All Entries Tagged With: "pitcher"
Hall of Famer Rod Carew on Setting up the Pitcher
Just as a pitcher can set up a batter, I feel a hitter can set up a pitcher. Hitting is a science. From preparing yourself with tools and studying your opponent, to analyzing your stance and how to get the best of your opponent; it’s a thinking man’s game from start to finish. With the [...]
Standing in the Batter’s Box
Like many aspects in the art and science of hitting, where you take your stance in the batter’s box offers as many opinions as there are fans in the ballpark. But, wherever you choose to stand in the box, it’s an important decision. Some batters prefer standing deep in the box, while others like to [...]
Bill Lee Pitched for the 2010 Brockton Rox
Apparently, former Red Sox pitcher Bill “The Spaceman” Lee recurred his role this year as a member of the Brockton Rox (an independant League Baseball team in Brockton, MA), albeit for just one game. He is now listed as being inactive, but did win in his only appearance of the season (in the last game [...]
How to Steal Second Base – My Major League Secrets
The one area of baseball that I had confidence while playing major league baseball was with base running, especially in the area of base stealing. I had good speed but not great speed for a major leaguer. I did possess a very good first step, which is extremely necessary to steal bases. That good first [...]
Newly Aquired Phillies Pitcher Roy Oswalt Plays LF Against Former Team
…While Phillies Regular LF Raul Ibanez Moves to 1B Back on Tuesday night in an extra inning game between the Philadelphia Philles and the Houston Astros something special happened. In a move that you don’t see that often anymore, due to Phillies All Star first baseman Ryan Howard‘s ejection, former Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt [...]
The SF Giants June Swoon
I can recall one time when I was a kid, one of my sisters asked me “What about the Giants’ “June swoon?” At the time she asked I was not familiar with what the phrase “June swoon” actually meant. Now, many years later I am painfully aware of what the June swoon is, and it [...]
What Did I Miss?
OK. It’s been over a month since I last posted. I’ll blame it on computer issues (including the fact that I erased everything on my hard drive). Now that I’ve recovered, what did I miss? Phillies Caught Cheating In the best tradition of the ’51 Giants, the Mets claimed that Phillies bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer [...]
What Was Brewing in Milwaukee Baseball in May
Well, we’ve made it to about the one-third mark of the season. Now, let’s take a look at how things progressed during the month of May. What Went Right: May was only 31 days long and it has (finally) come to an end. In all seriousness, I would put the first week of May in [...]
Mizuno World Win Series P/3B Glove Review
GWW1203 The Basics from Mizuno The Mizuno GWW1203 is a baseball glove with a Tartan web design (closed back) and ProFlex finger inserts in a pro style pattern. It comes specially tanned in a retro leather for a soft, supple feel for durability allowing for a quicker breaking in period. In fact, it comes nearly [...]
Top 5 Fantasy Surprises So Far in 2010: Pitchers
*These stats are as of 5/26/2010. The stats next to their names are W-L/SO/ERA/WHIP. These pitchers are the biggest surprises of the season so far… 5. Tyler Clippard, RP of the Washington Nationals 7-3/33/2.12/1.15 with 10 holds For a bullpen guy to have a 7-3 record so quickly into the season is unusual at best. [...]
Rangers Pitching, Post Spring Traning
Much of the spring training coverage for the Rangers has focused on all their options at starting pitcher. Now that the opening day rotation is set we should probably examine if they are really as deep as we think. I think the biggest concern for this rotation is will it eat up enough innings as [...]
Baseball News, Tweets & More: Tuesday pm
Image by mikeleeorg via Flickr Tuesday Afternoon Edition Check out this interview with possible # 1 draft pick Bryce Harper on MLB.com: http://ow.ly/1pVX9 @Jerry_Remy: Today in Sports Cover Story: #redsox Youkilis finding inspiration in strange places http://r8t.us/d1cOsU & With all the talk regarding #RedSox offense there’s pressure on Papi to perform right out of gate-I [...]
Announcing a New Baseball Book: Fifty-nine in ’84
Old Hoss Radbourn, Barehanded Baseball and the Greatest Season a Pitcher Ever Had In 1884, Hall of Fame pitcher Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn won an astonishing 59 games, started 73 games and completed them all, and pitched more than 678 innings. Then he went out and won all three games of baseball's first World Series. [...]
Top 10 Fantasy RF in 2009
These weekly posts of mine have been based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers we will just stick with [...]
Breaking Down Liriano’s DWL Dominance
This article was originally written by Andrew Kneeland back on January 29, 2010 on his site Twins Target. If you haven’t already heard, Francisco Liriano appears to be back to his old self. After putting up a 0.80 ERA in just under 50 innings of work in the Domincan Winter League, Liriano has impressed scouts [...]
Top 10 Fantasy LF of 2009
These weekly posts of mine have been based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers we will just stick with [...]
Will Nolan Ryan Change How Pitchers Are Treated?
One of my new favorite organizations in baseball is now the Nolan Ryan led Texas Rangers! I’m still a Red Sox fan, but I absolutely love what the Hall of Famer is trying to do in Texas. I just hope that the new management, whoever that may be, will be on the same page. For [...]
Not In A League Of Their Own Anymore
Image via Wikipedia The Arizona Winter League (AWL) which is a part of the Golden Baseball League (GBL) will host not one, but two women “baseball” players this season. The first is 17 year old Japanese knuckleball pitcher Eri Yoshida. For more details on her addition into the AWL can be read HERE. When she [...]
Three-Way Trade Is Bad News for D-backs
The Arizona Diamondbacks took part in a three-team trade that sent pitchers Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth to Detroit for right-handers Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. It’s hard to figure what the D-backs were thinking, as the swap will be a detriment to the Diamondbacks’ chances for 2010 and beyond. The Diamondbacks entered the offseason [...]
The Complete Interview with Pitching Legend Tommy John
Tommy John and A Glove of Their Own I recently interviewed former MLB pitcher Tommy John, for those of you who have been under a rock for the past 30 years, Tommy had played 26 seasons, accumulating 288 wins with a 3.34 ERA and over 2200 strikeouts. He played for 6 Major League Teams, including [...]
BBA 2009 Cy Young Award Ballot
For starters, here is how I added up the numbers, showing you which stats I added more weight to and why. If you only care about who I choose, then you can skip over the next few paragraphs. My Methodology/Madness Wins + (4.00 – ERA) multiplied by 10 + Complete Games + Shutouts + Innings [...]
The Tommy John Interview: Part 3
Tommy John and His Thoughts on the Game Today I started off the conversation in part 1 talking about how he became affiliated with the increasingly popular children’s book, “A Glove of Their Own”. Part 2 was a conversation on Tommy’s great career (in my humble opinion, he should be inducted into the Baseball Hall [...]
The Tommy John Interview: Part 1
Tommy John and A Glove of Their Own I recently interviewed former MLB pitcher Tommy John, for those of you who have been under a rock for the past 30 years, Tommy had played 26 seasons, accumulating 288 wins with a 3.34 ERA and over 2200 strikeouts. He played for 6 Major League Teams, including [...]
How Good Is Dan Haren?
When the Arizona Diamondbacks traded six of their best prospects for Dan Haren in December of 2007, I was vehemently opposed to the deal from the Diamondbacks’ perspective. Not only was I extremely high on the prospects involved – Outfielders Carlos Gonzalez and Aaron Cunningham, Southpaws Brett Anderson, Greg Smith, and Dana Eveland, and first [...]
Schmidt’s long road back ends with victory, tentative hope for future
In a Dodgers season full of compelling stories, add one more that is perhaps the most unlikely: The return of Jason Schmidt. Image by Getty Images via Daylife The veteran right-hander signed a three-year $47 million contract before the 2007 season and, before the other night, had given the Dodgers just six starts in return. [...]
Why the Braves will (not) make the playoffs
The Braves have made some good moves recently that we all know about. The starting pitching is above average, the relief pitching adequate, the offense is also adequate and the defense is excellent. It appears to a Braves fan that the Braves are in the best position to take first in the East. Under the [...]
Baltimore Orioles Midseason Report: Seeing Past the Ugliness
From the very beginning, the goal of the 2009 season for the Baltimore Orioles has been to be respectable on the field while continuing behind the scenes to develop the pieces needed to eventually lead the Orioles back to contention in the American League East. With the season now three months old and nearing the [...]
Amazon VOD “SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY”
Image by Paul Keleher via Flickr I recently was asked to help promote a documentary that was just released on Amazon VOD. It’s called SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY. Here’s the synopsis: “Throughout the 1970′s, Bill Lee was the ultimate gonzo baseball player, a brilliant left-handed pitcher who flouted every manager orfront office executive who tried [...]
Who Will Be The Tigers’ 5th Starter?
Image via Wikipedia Is Rick Porcello ready to be in a major league rotation? That is the big question right now at the Tigers’ spring headquarters in Lakeland, Fla., bigger than worries about the health of Jeremy Bonderman and Joel Zumaya, bigger than the hole in the lineup left when four of the Tigers’ top [...]
Does the Pitcher’s Mound Cause Injuries?
Back in 1969 the height of the pitcher‘s mound was lowered from 15″ down to 10″ in an attempt by major league baseball to level the playing ground between the era’s dominant pitching and the effect they were having on batters. Hitters were at an all time low for batting average of .237 the year [...]
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