Archive for April, 2010

The Pink Hats Will Be Back

After Monday’s 8-2 loss to Tampa, Red Sox Nation entered into full-scale panic.  At 4-9, the Red Sox are off to their worst start in 14 years.  They’re 1-6 at the “world’s greatest baseball cathedral” and already six games out of first place.  With a run differential of -19, the Bo Sox are closer to last place Baltimore in the standings than 3rd place Toronto.  The Nation is not happy.  A friend of mine who supposedly “bleeds for the team” sent me an email yesterday saying with Boston’s rough start, he was “already getting ready for football season.”  Red Sox Nation: Est. 2004. 
 
Before we get upset over a two-week period that encompass less than 10% of the season, let’s keep in mind this start means nothing.  Yeah, you heard me: nothing.  The baseball season is a grueling marathon.  April 30th isn’t even the completion of the first leg.  Sure, Houston and Baltimore fans should probably start scouting Texan and Raven draft picks, but Boston has no need to worry just yet.  On this day in 2008, the Arizona Diamondbacks were 13-4 with a +56 run differential.  The next closest?  The Chicago White Sox at +26.  The Diamondbacks were crusing… To an 82-80 record and a +14 run differential.  They missed the playoffs.  

The "Nation" at its best: crude gesture, brand new jerseys and pink hats.

Hot and cold starts are just that: two weeks of streaky baseball.  Unfortunately, because they happen in April instead of August, they get way overblown.  As much as I hate myself for doing this, I will put on my Obama hat and try to alleviate a Nation’s fears.

Most of the griping centers around the offense.  ”Billy from Brighton” has a point: the team is hitting .267 with a .327 on-base percentage (OBP).  Even with a respectable .785 On Base Plus Slugging % (OPS) (the 2007 title team OPS’d .806), this is a major concern.  But let’s take a look at the starters so far in 2010 and see how that matches up with their 2009 performance as well as career numbers:
 
(2010/2009/Career- OPS*)
1. J. Ellsbury: .800/.770/.765
2. D. Pedroia: 1.095/.818/.832
3. V. Martinez: .576/.861/.833
4. K. Youkilis: .796/.961/.877
5. D. Ortiz: .527/.794/.919
6. A. Beltre: .668/.683/.788
7. J. Drew: .499/.914/.893
8. M. Cameron: .694/.794/.787
9. M. Scutaro:  .763/.788/.722
 
(*Nerd disclaimer: Realizing OPS is not the perfect statistic, it’s a quick and dirty way to measure effectiveness, so we’ll go with it for now.  For more on OPS, see this.  Why yes, I am single, thanks for asking!)
 
Anyway, the Red Sox 3-7 spots in their Opening Day lineup have drastically underpeformed their expected production.  Will this hold out for the rest of the season?  Unless Boston is terribly unlucky, I doubt it.  Even if you concede Ortiz’s best days are long past, the Red Sox have Mike Lowell, a guy with an .810 career OPS as well as an extremely deep farm system to shore up any other positional deficiencies.
 
The much-heralded pitching staff has struggled, but take away Lackey’s start Monday and he’s been pretty good (2ER in 12.2 IP).  Barring an undiagnosed injury, I believe Jon Lester’s 8.44 ERA is a mirage: the guy still has the highest K/9 inning rate of any starter on the team.  He’ll rebound. 
 
The bullpen?  Well, aside from Ramon Ramirez, the rest of the them are solid — all with ERAs under 4 (except Scott Schoeneweis at 4.05).
 
Verdict?  Other than giving hope to fans in Baltimore that they might be spared from a flock of Sox fans (born in Glen Burnie, of course) invading their stadium this summer, the Red Sox aren’t close to being done.  Even if Pink Hat Nation has given up on them, the rest of the American League should not.

Randy Moeller and the Dan LeBatard show strike again. The Florida Panthers radio announcer is making a name for himself with some of the best goal calls in the business. They usually incorporate TV, music or film quotes that come from the hosts or listeners of the Dan LeBatard Show in Miami.

The show put together another compilation of Moeller’s best calls for your listening pleasure. Enjoy the closest thing the US has to a Mexican soccer announcer.

Time to make the doughnuts!

Reading Between the Headlines

As we glide into warmer weather and brighter days, we’re still stuck with a deluge of crappy stories.  I’m wondering when we’ll get a break from the sexual assaults, projectile vomiting, and the Baltimore Orioles.  Prepare for your weekend away from the mess with some headlines:

Granted, it’s really early, and I’m pretty sure Game 7 for both of their series isn’t scheduled until the beginning of June, but I can’t think of a worse follow-up to the NHL’s success at the Vancouver games than to lose its two marquee players in the first round of the playoffs.  That would be devastating.  I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about sports, but if you asked me to name 100 current NHLers right now, I probably couldn’t do it.  The NHL needs a Caps-Pens matchup more than a USA medal finish in just about every way.

New Jersey?  Phillies fan?  Drunk?  Too, too easy.  Very quickly, let me just check something:

 

Yep, big fat pig.  Have fun in jail, jerk.  And where was Green Man when you need him?  Speaking of which: dressing up as Green Man is TIRED.  Green Man first came on the scene in September 2007.  Since that time, I can say without a doubt, I’ve seen at least one attention-seeking pencil neck dressed as Green Man at each outdoor concert and sporting event I’ve attended.  Whatever happened to going to a game, having a few beers, betting on the condiment race and scoping out other dudes’ girlfriends?

  • Jay-Z is suing David Ortiz after Ortiz named his Dominican nightclub after the rapper’s chain of 40/40 clubs. 

Rough month for Papi: benched by Tito Francona, he’s struck out in half of his at bats, and now he’s being sued.  I wonder if part of the settlement will include an agreement indicating who’s overpriced sinkhole gets to go out of business first.  Celebrity-themed restaurants and bars are almost always terrible tourist traps.  I will write more about this phenomenon one day.  Dan Majerle, you’re on notice.

First of all: if you go to a bar and see a celebrity and you’re stalking doesn’t convince them to a) leave, or b) call the cops, please don’t record them.  It’s weird, it’s creepy and you’re ruining it for the rest of us.  I’ve hung out in places where celebrities have let loose and let me tell you: it’s awesome.  But as soon as you pull out a camera, you ruin it for everyone else.  Now Jerry Jones will never go to a public place and drink ever again.  See what you did, nerds?  Jerry, I’ll get drunk with you and you can call me a “piece of s—“ anytime you want. 

We’ve discussed “Young Dummies with Money Syndrome” before, so I won’t get into it again, but I will say if there is a dumber guy in football than Ben Roethlisberger, I’d sure as hell like to meet him.  When you’ve got Terry Bradshaw giving you life advice, you must be really, really slow.  And how will the Steelers be punishing him?  By trading away their best receiver for nothing?  Never mind, they already did that.

Whenever I think of kidney stones, I think of Kramer

JERRY: Hey!

KRAMER: Hey.

JERRY: What’s with you?

KRAMER: I got a stone.

JERRY: What stone?

KRAMER: A kidney stone.

JERRY: What is that, anyway?

KRAMER: It’s a, it’s a stony mineral concretion, formed abnormally in the kidney. And this jagged shard of calcium pushes its way through the ureter into the bladder. It’s forced out through the urine!

JERRY: Oh, that’s gotta hurt.

Indeed.  Have a great weekend.  Let’s hope for a weekend where everybody stays out of jail and keeps their pants on.

In the “you learn something new every day” file, here’s a picture of Fidel Castro pitching…because why not.  From Slate:

HAVANA—To celebrate the liberation of Cuba, Fidel Castro pitches during the opening-night game between the Barbudos and the Cuban National Police Department, 1959.

Stay Classy New York

Image Via That Fan