Blog Archives
Triple Play Podcast Ep #12 – Interview With MLB Fancave Dweller Aaron Roberts, Astros Chat + Lids
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Follow @mlbreportsSunday, June.09, 2013
By The Big Ticket Show ( AKA Triple Play Podcast on http://www.mlbreports.com) Follow @bigticketshow
Guests in this Podcast – Thomas Aaron Roberts (25 Minute Mark and a 17 Min Segment) (Former MLB Reports Dodgers Correspondent and 1 of 7 MLB FanCave Dwellers left in New York) Follow @bertsball
Richard Perez (www.strosbros.mlblogs.com and 1 of our 3 Astros Correspondents from there – (4 Minutes in and a 20 Minute Segment) Follow @yokorick
Guys (Frank and Carmen) from the @mydopehatgame (44 Minutes In and a 10 Minute Segment) Follow @mydopehatgame
To Keep Reading and Listen to this Podcast click the READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY or scroll past the Triple Play Logo
Baseball’s Best Bullpen: Arizona Diamondbacks
Friday November 2nd, 2012
Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst):
In 2011, the Arizona Diamondbacks made a really nice push in the AL West and finished with 94 wins, 8 games ahead of the second place San Francisco Giants. They performed well above expectations, and they did so with a relatively unglamorous starting rotation, that consisted mainly of Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, Josh Collmenter, Daniel Hudson and a revolving 5th starter. What really carried the team in 2011 and made the Arizona Diamondbacks a competitive in 2011, happened to be their weakest link in their miserable 2010 season: the bullpen.
The Diamondbacks won 29 more games in 2011 than they did in 2010. The most drastic changes made by the organization were in the bullpen where the D-Back’s added closer J.J. Putz and setup man David Hernandez. The 2011 bullpen allowed 100 fewer runs than their predecessors in 2010 and dropped their group ERA from 5.74 in 2010 to just 3.71 in 2011. It goes without saying that their newly revamped bullpen allowed Arizona to stay close in a lot more games and gave them a better chance to be winners.
Following their great 2011 season, the D-Back’s found themselves reverting back to their former ways in 2012. Finishing 13 games behind the first place Giants, and just barely hanging on to a .500 record, the Diamondback’s finished 81-81. You want to know something interesting? It was their bullpen, once again, that failed. Read the rest of this entry
Marco Scutaro: The Best 2012 Trade Deadline Deal And NLCS MVP
Wednesday, October.24/2012

The Post Season almost ended for Marco Scutaro in Game #2 in St. Louis as Matt Holliday slid late to break up a double play. Scutaro stayed in that game and collected a key hit before being pulled as a precautionary move. He would come back and play from games 3-7. —Photo Courtesy of giants.com
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024
I am pleased to always write about a player that has appeared one of my #UnheraldedAwarenessWeeks on Twitter. For those that don’t know what that is, every week I pick a retired player and a current player to talk about and share info, stats, stories and funny anecdotes about. Marco Scutaro was one of those players in September. My buddy Patrick (who hosts a PODCAST I do MLB Expert Interviews on called ‘The Big Ticket Show‘) was the first one to say this signing was good. I did remember that Scutaro was able to plate a 100 runs for the Jays in 2009 despite only playing in 144 games and also provided solid offense out of the Shortstop Position. He was hitting in low .300’s at the time of the trade on July.27 to the San Francisco Giants from the Rockies. I wasn’t as sold on the guy heading to AT &T Park to play half of his games at home. I quickly came on board when he started tearing it up in his 1st week as a Giant. Boy did I ever turn out to be wrong with him batting in San Francisco too, where he hit .352 in 33 games at AT &T Park in 2012. That is an incredible average for what is one of the toughest parks on player averages in the Major Leagues!

With his 3rd organization since Jan.21 of this year, Scutaro has provided the necessary spark to the Giants lineup that was voided with losing Melky Cabrera. At 37 years old, he should be able to garner one more multi-year contract
Scutaro ended up being the best trade deadline acquisition in the Major Leagues this year. Not only did he hit .339 in the second half, he also hit .402 in the month of September and the last 3 games of the regular season in October. After going 0-12 in the 1st 3 games against Cincinnati in the NLDS, Scutaro has put a 9 game hitting streak together-and he had 6 multi-hit games in the NLCS en-route to being named the NLCS MVP. He has pivotal game changing hits in Game #2 (where he also got run into by a hard and controversial slide by Matt Holiday before leaving) and in Games 6 and 7. Scutaro tied and LCS record by recording 14 hits in 28 AB for a .500 Average. while scoring 7 runs. The man has also contributed solid defense at second base, a position the Giants have struggled to fill since Jeff Kent left almost a decade ago. Read the rest of this entry
Top Ten Stat of the Week: Players with 40 HRs on 4 Different Teams Or More
Monday July.02/2012

Gary Sheffield hit 30 HRs and 120 RBI in both 2004 and 2005 for the Yankees before injuries held him to just 39 games in 2006. Sheffield also hit 40+HRs on 5 other teams (per stay) besides the Bronx Bombers in his career. –Photo courtesy of exposay.com
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- As the world of Twitter and Facebook has invaded the internet these days, I am brainstorming about all sorts of stats I have had in my head for years. This stat came to my head because of Gary Sheffield. A few years back, I watched a game on my birthday at Safeco Field. It was the New York Yankees and Sheffield visiting. There are players that you are sure to watch live in person. Gary Sheffield was one of these hitters. Not only is he one of 25 player in history to hit 500 HRs, but he had one of the fiercest swings ever. The man would wiggle that bat back and forth like a toothpick before striding and swinging with daunting ferocity. It was an unorthodox style that must have made Little League coaches cringe, yet it was effective. Sheffield was a bit of a hot head though, this may have led to him being traded or not re-signed by several teams. Hitting 40 HRs for 6 different teams is definitely impressive and may never be duplicated. I knew he had played on several teams already so the seed of today’s article was planted back in 2005.
Fred McGriff was the exact opposite of Gary Sheffield when it came to temperament. This man was traded several times in his career because he could flat-out hit. Jose Canseco is the only other player besides McGriff and Sheffield to hit 40 HRs with 5 different teams. The reason many older players are not on this list is because free agency never arrived in the MLB until the early 70’s when Curt Flood challenged a trade and the Players Union saw it through. Now player movement has enabled more players switching teams each season than ever before. Rusty Staub was the 1st to make this list and Alfonso Soriano is the last player to make this list and the only current player left. I have a feeling we will see more players arrive on this list in the next 25 years.
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