Posted 11:37 AM by bob
SO, UH, IT'S BEEN A WHILE
I've been busy doing other things.

In other news, boy, the Mariners suck. Didn't see that coming. I love Boone, but I'm glad he's gone.

My wishlist for the rest of the season is:
Trade Winn and get Snelling/Doyle in LF full time.
Win the few games I am planning to attend this summer. :)

Posted 10:27 AM by bob
JUDGING FROM THIS, it might be a while until the Diamondbacks are any good again.

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday fired Wally Backman, just four days after naming him their new manager.

[snip]

The decision to oust Backman so quickly came after revelations that he had twice been arrested and suffered from financial problems. The team, under new management this year, had been unaware of Backman's problems until media reports surfaced.

The management group acknowledged they failed to do a criminal or financial background check but initially indicated they would stand by Backman.

A management team that hires someone and four days later fires the guy, not because of anything he did in those four days, but because of stuff he did several years ago, is not a management team that inspires confidence.

The team immediately announced that Bob Melvin will take the position.

Melvin, fired after two seasons as manager of the Seattle Mariners, was Bob Brenly's bench coach on the World Series championship team of 2001.

I liked Bob Melvin while he was with the Mariners, though not so much that I'll really miss him. But in any case, I'm happy to see him get another chance. His in-game decisions infuriated a lot of folks (including me, though not as often as others), but he talked a good talk - he was often quoted in the papers as valuing guys who can get on base over guys who are fast, among other smart things. His two teams (2003 & 2004 Ms) combined to steal bases at a 73.4% clip, which ain't too shabby. I wish him well.

Posted 9:43 AM by bob
RAINING BUCKETS TODAY IN SEATTLE. Was dumping when I left the house this morning also (about 30 miles south of Seattle). Might affect voter turnout today, I suppose. We'll see.

UPDATE: Not so much anymore.

Posted 9:49 AM by bob
THE FUTURE; FINAL UPDATE:

Final update of this post:

The Pitchers

Name         G GS IP    H BB SO SO/9 SO/BB ERA   Age

C Nageotte  12  5 36.7 48 27 24  5.9  0.89  7.36   23 

M Thornton  19  1 32.7 30 25 30  8.3  1.20  4.13   27

T Blackley   6  6 26.0 35 22 16  5.5  0.73 10.04   21 

J Putz      54  0 63.0 66 24 47  6.7  1.96  4.71   27

S Atchison  25  0 30.7 29 14 36 10.6  2.57  3.52   28

G Sherrill  21  0 23.7 24  9 16  6.1  1.78  3.80   27

B Madritsch 15 11 88.0 74 33 60  6.1  1.82  3.27   28  

C Baek       7  5 31.0 35 11 20  5.8  1.82  5.52   24

A Taylor     5  0  3.7  5  3  4  9.8  1.33  9.82   26

   

The Hitters

Name         AB  H XB HR BB SB AVG OBP SLG Pos   Age

B Jacobsen  160 44  9  9 14  0 275 335 500 1B/DH  28 

J Leone     102 22  5  6  9  1 216 298 441 3B     27 

M Olivo     160 32 10  6 10  2 200 260 388 C      25

J Lopez     207 48 13  5  8  0 232 263 367 SS     20

G Dobbs      53 12  1  1  1  0 226 250 302 3B     25

J Reed       58 23  4  0  7  3 397 470 466 OF     23

  

XB=2B+3B

And there you have it.

Posted 3:49 PM by bob
THE FUTURE; ANOTHER UPDATE:

Another update of this post:

The Pitchers

Name         G GS IP    H BB SO SO/9 SO/BB ERA   Age

C Nageotte  12  5 36.7 48 27 24  5.9  0.89  7.36   23 on DL

M Thornton  16  1 29.3 27 22 25  7.7  1.14  4.60   27

T Blackley   6  6 26.0 35 22 16  5.5  0.73 10.04   21 on DL

J Putz      51  0 60.0 63 24 46  6.9  1.92  4.95   27

S Atchison  21  0 26.7 26 12 32 10.8  2.67  3.71   28

G Sherrill  21  0 23.7 24  9 16  6.1  1.78  3.80   27

B Madritsch 13  9 75.3 63 28 54  6.5  1.93  2.99   28  

C Baek       6  4 23.0 32  9 16  6.3  1.78  7.43   24

A Taylor     4  0  2.7  3  3  3 10.1  1.00 13.50   26

   

The Hitters

Name         AB  H XB HR BB SB AVG OBP SLG Pos   Age

B Jacobsen  160 44  9  9 14  0 275 335 500 1B/DH  28 on DL

J Leone     102 22  5  6  9  1 216 298 441 3B     27 on DL

M Olivo     147 29  8  6  9  2 197 258 388 C      25

J Lopez     174 40  9  5  6  0 230 260 368 SS     20

G Dobbs      30  6  1  1  0  0 200 200 333 3B     25

J Reed       31 13  2  0  2  1 419 455 484 OF     23

  

XB=2B+3B

Obviously, the bright spots are Madritsch, Atchison, and Sherrill among the pitchers and Reed and Jacobsen among the hitters. Most of the pitchers are improving slowly, but most of the hitters are tanking slowly. Olivo in particular is putting up some hideous numbers and J Lopez hasn't been able to hit at this level yet.

Posted 9:29 AM by bob
CONTINUING MY POSTS ABOUT THE COMPOSITION OF THE HALL OF FAME, here are the averages, by position, of the Hall of Famers whose careers were largely post-WWII (i.e., the guys born in 1922 or later).

Pos   W   L   WPCT  G   GS  CG SHO Sv   IP   SO  ERA FibW

SP   269 199  .583 626 573 219  50  9 4256 3052 3.09  226

There are 16 pitchers; they are: Jim Palmer, Bob Gibson, Juan Marichal, Catfish Hunter, Jim Bunning, Don Drysdale, Robin Roberts, Fergie Jenkins, Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Gaylord Perry, Steve Carlton, Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan

The record is mostly the same as the average for all the HOF pitchers - the record is a little worse, the career is a little longer, the ERA is a little worse. The only real differences are in the number of complete games and in the number of strikeouts. The post-WWII subset of the HOF has many fewer CG and many more strikeouts than the HOF as a whole. Interestingly, despite the fewer CG, the number of shutouts is about the same.

The position players:

      PG   BG    H  2B  3B  HR R+RBI AVG OBP SLG

C   1931 2268 2162 374  38 362  2482 271 341 463

1B  1778 2590 2527 425  42 471  2923 278 360 492

2B  1976 2373 2540 394  92 123  2182 287 354 395

3B  2129 2439 2521 459  77 345  2716 284 363 468

SS  1925 2640 2716 447  94 219  2539 271 330 400

LF  1670 2449 2567 441  76 374  2755 286 368 488

CF  1820 2174 2368 367  86 349  2623 301 388 501

RF  1938 2861 3069 516  91 501  3466 293 368 502

DH  1174 2683 3319 605 114 234  3089 306 369 450

These are the players:
C: Gary Carter, Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk
1B: Orland Cepeda, Tony Perez, Willie McCovey, Harmon Killebrew, Eddie Murray
2B: Red Schoendienst, Rod Carew, Nellie Fox, Bill Mazeroski, Joe Morgan
3B: George Brett, George Kell, Eddie Mathews, Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt
SS: Luis Aparicio, Ozzie Smith, Robin Yount, Ernie Banks
LF: Lou Brock, Billy Williams, Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner, Carl Yastrzemski
CF: Kirby Puckett, Duke Snider, Richie Ashburn, Larry Doby, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays
RF: Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron
DH: Paul Molitor

Note that in all cases the post-WWII batting average is lower and, in most cases, the slugging percentage is higher. The exceptions are first base, second base, and left field.

I think in evaluating a current/recent player's merits for the HOF, he should probably be first compared to these guys to see if he is wanting.

Posted 9:12 AM by bob
MISUSE OF STATISTICS? NAH, THIS IS FOR REALSIES!
Joe Gibbs will decide the next President of the United States of America:

In the end, it's the Packers' score -- more than the Packers vote -- that could determine Kerry's fate. In the past 18 presidential elections, if the Redskins lost or tied the last game before the election, the party in the White House lost, too. The Redskins' opponent Oct. 31: the Packers, but not at Lambert, er, Lambeau Field.

Posted 8:10 AM by bob
THE FUTURE; ANOTHER UPDATE:

Another update of this post:

The Pitchers

Name         G GS IP    H BB SO SO/9 SO/BB ERA   Age

C Nageotte  12  5 36.7 48 27 24  5.9  0.89  7.36   23 on DL

M Thornton  14  1 26.3 25 20 24  8.2  1.20  5.13   27

T Blackley   6  6 26.0 35 22 16  5.5  0.73 10.04   21 on DL

J Putz      49  0 58.0 63 23 43  6.7  1.87  5.12   27

S Atchison  18  0 23.3 25 11 27 10.4  2.45  4.24   28

G Sherrill  21  0 23.7 24  9 16  6.1  1.78  3.80   27

B Madritsch 12  8 68.3 55 24 47  6.2  1.96  3.03   28  

C Baek       5  3 17.7 26  6 13  6.6  2.17  7.13   24

A Taylor     2  0  1.3  3  3  0  0.0  0.00 27.00   26

   

The Hitters

Name         AB  H XB HR BB SB AVG OBP SLG Pos   Age

B Jacobsen  160 44  9  9 14  0 275 335 500 1B/DH  28 on DL

J Leone     102 22  5  6  9  1 216 298 441 3B     27 on DL

M Olivo     134 29  8  6  9  2 216 281 425 C      25

J Lopez     147 35  7  5  6  0 238 273 388 SS     20

G Dobbs      19  3  0  1  0  0 158 158 316 3B     25

J Reed        9  2  0  0  0  1 200 200 200 OF     23

  

XB=2B+3B