483 replies to this topic

[Oriole85]

And Harold Reynolds keeps his streak alive for saying at least one moronic thing per night. When discussing the Beltran ball that hit the foul line past 3B and was called foul, he says that it went over the bag so it doesn't matter whether it hit the line or not, it should have been fair. Hey Harold, don't you even know the freakin rules dude? If the ball hits before the bag and goes over the bag and lands in fair territory, it's fair. If the ball goes past the bag in the air, it HAS to land in fair territory to be ruled fair. He said it two times and neither of the other two guys corrected him. What a joke? He's entertaining only because he's a clown.

I lost my final respect for him as an analyst on the Hall-of-Fame show this year when he made the false, but oft-repeated, claim about Jack Morris "pitching-to-the-score". Peter Gammons, of all people, pointed out that it was an idea that had been disproved for a while. Yet later that night on the Hot Stove show, Reynolds said the exact same thing, and not a replay either.

Personal problems or not, I wish he had stayed at ESPN instead of sullying the otherwise mostly good analysis on MLB Network.

And don't get me started on Mitch Williams.

ESPN fired him, one of the many sexual harassment cases they've had at the four letter network.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Reynolds is a guy that could add value to a show talking about base running, and infield defense. He is also another guy that gets exposed having to analyze everything.

[Nuclear Dish]

Reynolds is a guy that could add value to a show talking about base running, and infield defense. He is also another guy that gets exposed having to analyze everything.

He apparently gets exposed to interns in the ESPN offices too!

[Nuclear Dish]

Excellent article in Slate on why this is actually not as big a deal as people seem to think:

http://www.slate.com... ... reak_.html

Since 1962, the year the Mets first suited up, there have been 213,422 starts by major league pitchers. During that span, there have been 131 no-hitters, giving the proportion of pitchers tallying a zero in the hit column for nine innings at.000614 (or .0614 percent). To calculate the Mets’ chances of going 8019 games without such a game, merely take the odds of NOT throwing a no-hitter (1 – 0.000614, or 0.999386) and put it to the power of 8019, the number of games the Mets played before Santana’s gem. This comes out to 0.0073, which means there was about a 0.73 percent chance of a streak of such length occurring.

Another method of calculating the probability of such a streak is to find the mean and standard deviation in no-hitters since 1962 of every franchise that has been in existence since that time. Those teams have ad an average of 5.55 no-hitters, and the standard deviation is 2.502. The Mets’ big squadoosh only places them 2.22 standard deviations below the mean, or in the 1.3 percentile.

Fortuitously, an applications developer at Bloomberg Sports conducted a study on the Mets’ streak just five days ago, and his conclusions were published by Baseball Prospectus. He arrived at slightly lower figures. But whatever metric one uses, the odds of such a lengthy streak occurring hover around 1 percent. Which makes such a drought unexpected, to be sure, but perhaps not quite worthy of the Tebow and Lin-esque frenzy with which the dry spell has been covered. Is a 1-in-100 event really that remarkable?

Consider that such a streak is not unprecedented—it’s not even the longest in league history. The Phillies went 8,945 games without a no-hitter from 1909 to 1964, easily besting the Mets’ drought. The Cubs have gone nearly as many games without being the victims of a no-hitter: It has been 7,421 games since Sandy Koufax no-hit them in 1965. Just in this decade, there were 6,364 major league games played between Randy Johnson’s perfect game in 2004 and the next no-hitter by Anibal Sanchez in 2006.

[DJ MC]

Reynolds is a guy that could add value to a show talking about base running, and infield defense. He is also another guy that gets exposed having to analyze everything.

Oh absolutely. Most of those guys, MLB or ESPN, are great at actually explaining what happens on the field. The Diamond Demo stuff is what those guys should be doing. Sitting at a desk trying to analyze what happens, though? Very few of them are any good at it, because it takes a completely different set of skills.

[KRL224]

R.A. Dickey has been on an absolute tear his last 4 outings. 30.2 IP, 1 ER, 38 K's, 19 hits and only 3 walks. 9-1 on the season with a 2.44 ERA. He is also working on 24.2 consecutive scoreless innings.

Fear the knuckleball.

Also, I got a good chuckle at the Dickey / Wang match-up this afternoon.

[BSLChrisStoner]

As of 6/18

Dickey: 10-1, 2.20 era, 90 ip, 66 hits, 8 hr’s, 19 bb’s, 90 k’s, .601 OPS against, 1.17 G/F
Pitch F/X: http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/285079/

Santana: 4-3, 3.23 era, 78 ip, 62 hits, 8 hr’s 26 bb’s, 79 k’s, .643 OPS against, 0.51 G/F
Pitch F/X: http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/276371/

Gee: 4-5, 4.43 era, 83.1 ip, 84 hits, 11 hr’s, 23 bb’s, 74 k’s, .720 OPS against, 1.19 G/F
Pitch F/X: http://pitchfx.texas...pitcher/518716/

C: Thole .652 OPS
1st: Davis .599 OPS
2nd: Murphy .665 OPS
SS: Quintanilla .762 OPS
3rd: Wright 1.032 OPS
LF: Hairston .907 OPS
CF: Nieuwenhuis .779 OPS
RF: Duda .790 OPS

Bench: Nickeas, Rottino, Turner, Valdespin, Torres
Rotation: Santana, Dickey, Niese, Gee, Young
Bullpen: Francisco, Rauch, Parnell, Byrdak, Ramirez, Batista, Hefner

Current Ranks (as of 6/18):

Runs: 10th
Batting Average: 16th
On Base: 7th
Slugging: 19th
ERA: 24th
Quality Starts: 3rd
WHIP: 20th
BAA: 20th

[Icterus galbula]

Nice interview with RA Dickey by Rosenthal-

http://msn.foxsports... ... 7acfbcb6ec


How many MLB players can correctly use the word modicum? Can't help rooting for this guy.

[Can_of_corn]

http://mlb.sbnation.... ... power-mets

Hoyt Wilhelm, Charlie Hough, Phil Niekro ... all of those guys also threw the slow dancing knuckleball, generally in the 60s somewhere. Joe Niekro, who threw his secondary pitches more than those other guys, probably threw his knuckler a little harder, maybe in the low 70s. But not 80. Probably not close to 80. Perhaps the hardest knuckleball that anyone saw before Dickey's was thrown by Jared Fernandez, who toiled for a few teams in the last decade; Fernandez got his knuckler up to 76 with some regularity, or five miles an hour slower than Dickey's best.

in Dickey's second one-hitter last week, he "threw 35 knuckleballs at 80 mph or faster, the third straight start in which he's thrown at least 30 knuckleballs at that speed.

I see a lot of Mike Scott circa 1986 in R.A. Dickey. Only a 5 MPH differential between FB and Knuckler seems odd.

[Nuclear Dish]

I see a lot of Mike Scott circa 1986 in R.A. Dickey. Only a 5 MPH differential between FB and Knuckler seems odd.

Mike Scott threw a knuckleball?! I don't think so. He got good when he pitched for Roger Craig, who taught him a splitter.

Scott stuck out over 300 guys in '86. That's quite a comparison. Are you sure about that?

[Can_of_corn]

Mike Scott didn't throw a splitter, Mike Scott threw a scuffball.

[Nuclear Dish]

Mike Scott didn't throw a splitter, Mike Scott threw a scuffball.

Actually, he probably threw both.

But for the official record, it was the splitter that changed his career.

He never once got caught or suspended, and he never admitted to doing so, so unlike guys like Gaylord Perry, Scott is only thought to have thrown a scuffball, not known to have.

I find it hard to believe that someone could have enduring success with the scuffball without getting caught. A whole season? Unlikely, but maybe. But Scott was good for about 3 years, and he never got caught.

[Can_of_corn]

Actually, he probably threw both.

But for the official record, it was the splitter that changed his career.

He never once got caught or suspended, and he never admitted to doing so, so unlike guys like Gaylord Perry, Scott is only thought to have thrown a scuffball, not known to have.

I find it hard to believe that someone could have enduring success with the scuffball without getting caught. A whole season? Unlikely, but maybe. But Scott was good for about 3 years, and he never got caught.

Here is a quote for you:

“They can believe whatever they want to believe. Every ball that hits the ground has something on it. … I’ve thrown balls that were scuffed, but I haven’t scuffed every ball that I’ve thrown.”

http://hardballtalk.... ... baseballs/

[Nuclear Dish]

OK, you got me. I guess he did admit to it.

I still don't see the connection between him and Dickey.

[Can_of_corn]

OK, you got me. I guess he did admit to it.

I still don't see the connection between him and Dickey.

I think Dickey is doctoring the ball. I don't think it is possible to only lose 5 MPH off your best fastball when using the kuckleball grip and to be able to hold that velocity for 30+ pitches a start.

Scott came out of nowhere with a "new pitch" that he mastered. Dickey is doing the same with his hard Knuckleball.

[Nuclear Dish]

I think Dickey is doctoring the ball. I don't think it is possible to only lose 5 MPH off your best fastball when using the kuckleball grip and to be able to hold that velocity for 30+ pitches a start.

Scott came out of nowhere with a "new pitch" that he mastered. Dickey is doing the same with his hard Knuckleball.

Wow, that's quite an accusation. I will be very impressed if you are right.

Have you heard this from anyone else? I haven't heard anything about this being rumored around big league teams.

[Can_of_corn]

Wow, that's quite an accusation. I will be very impressed if you are right.

Have you heard this from anyone else? I haven't heard anything about this being rumored around big league teams.

Nope, straight up pulling it out of my backside.

Right now I think the Dickey story is so compelling that folks are not looking too close.

Of course if someone has proof that the 5 MPH differential is possible over that amount of pitches in a start I will gladly retract my accusations.

[Nuclear Dish]

I tend to think that a lot of people are accused of cheating when they start doing something no one else has done to the same effect before them.

- Candy Cummings was scoffed at for his curveball.
- Carl Hubbard was thought to be using a spitter when it was actually a screwball.
- Bruce Sutter was questioned about his success from the splitter.
- Steve Farr was always being accused of wrongdoing for his palmball.

I think Dickey just might have a better grip on this knuckler than anyone's managed before, so he can get better control of it when throwing it hard. But if you're right, you''ll get some serious props from me.

[Adam Wolff]

Really good interview. Seems like a very well spoken, articulate guy that's really been through some trying things in his life. Between that and having a career season at really an unheard of age for career seasons in a post steroid era world, he's very easy to root for. And he's doing it all with a pitch that, as he said, tends to make you think of that pitcher as a circus act or something.

Good for him.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Catonsville Times: Catonsville resident Adam Kolarek promoted to Double A
http://www.baltimore...0,7303052.story