Blog Archives
Wild Weekend Of Division Series Brings Plenty Of Surprises
Monday October 8th, 2012
Jake Dal Porto: Now that the division series are into full swing, it’s time to take a look at the status of each of the four series from both leagues.
Surprisingly, the road teams went 6-2, despite the weird playoff format which has the top seed playing two road games before heading home for three.
Here are the results:
American League
Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland Athletics
It wasn’t a good weekend for Bay Area teams. The A’s lost a heartbreaker early Sunday morning, and the Giants ended the evening with a loss (more on that later). Read the rest of this entry
2012 MLB Postseason Preview: Every Pitch Counts
Thursday, October 4th, 2012
- October is the time when there is a quiet current of electricity surrounding baseball. There is an intensity in every second between pitches, and the players really zone in. This is the reason they played 162 games through the regular season. They are all after one thing: A World Championship.
Alex Mednick (Baseball Analyst and Writer):
With the last games of the 2012 regular season being officially completed yesterday I get the same feeling I do every season…it’s a sickening pain in my stomach, that makes me want to hibernate and not wake up until April comes around. For baseball lovers, we are all very familiar with this feeling. We find solace in the fact that with the exception of the month of November, we can still follow baseball transactions all year-long. Furthermore, we cannot get too upset; baseball isn’t really over. In fact, some might argue that it is just beginning!
The boys of summer play all those games in the summer heat for one reason. The grueling 162 game schedule sees many ups and many downs, and all of these challenges are met with a firm resolve: to do whatever it takes to get to the postseason. October is the time when the weather turns cold, and ball players become unshaven warriors duking it out to be the victorious few who have the honor to take a championship ring home this offseason. Read the rest of this entry
Barry Zito: Reborn in San Francisco?
Thursday October 4th, 2012
Bernie Olshansky: If you asked a group of Giants fans who was the biggest disappointment on the team over the last few years, you would most likely get a unanimous decision: Barry Zito. When the Giants signed him after the 2006 season, they thought they were getting an ace. Zito had a stellar career with the Oakland Athletics, posting a 102-63 record to go along with a 3.55 ERA. He was a three-time All-Star with the A’s and won the 2002 American League Cy Young award. The Giants went all out to sign Zito, offering him a seven-year $126 million deal. Big mistake.
In his first year with the Giants, Zito was not horrible, but he definitely was not what the Giants expected. He went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA. After this year, Zito never posted an ERA lower than 4.03, and did not win more than ten games (until this year). In 2008, Zito lost 17 games. It was that year that many of the fans turned on him completely. Fans doubted Zito earlier, but it was this year that really established his pattern of poor performance. No one could believe that the Giants had signed him to such a large contract—the largest for a pitcher at the time—and that he could regress so much. Zito was more than bad—he was awful. There were talks of taking him out of the rotation and putting him in the bullpen. By this time, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were with the Giants and were performing well. Zito had been passed up.
Buster Posey is Keeping the Giants in Contention
Wednesday August 22nd, 2012
Sam Evans: When Buster Posey broke his fibula in 2011, it was a crushing blow to a Giants team fighting for a playoff spot. The Giants ended up missing the playoffs that year, largely due to not having any production from catcher. In 2012, Posey was expected to regain his old form immediately and help bring the playoffs to San Francisco. So far in 2012, Posey has exceeded previous expectations, and deserves a lot of the credit for the Giants’ success. With the N.L. West looking like it’s going to come down to the wire, and Melky Cabrera out for the regular season (and part of the playoffs), Posey needs to keep up his performance in order for San Francisco to make the playoffs.
Buster Posey has always been a hitter. At Florida State, Posey was moved from shortstop to catcher so he doesn’t have as much experience behind the plate as a typical catcher. Posey’s defense at catcher has improved year by year thanks to his work ethic and athleticism. This year, Posey has shown no signs of his previous injury, and has continued to play solid defense behind the plate. Not to mention, Posey is having his most valuable offensive season ever, and one of the more impressive batting lines in the National League. Read the rest of this entry
What to Expect from Tim Lincecum in the Second Half: The Return of the Giants Ace to Form?
Thursday July 12th, 2012
Sam Evans: Tim Lincecum has been proving doubters wrong his whole life. Despite his small frame, Lincecum has managed to win the Golden Spikes award and two N.L. Cy Young awards. However, in 2012 Lincecum hasn’t looked like the same pitcher. He has not only lost velocity on his fastball, but his numbers across the board are not what we expected from one of the best pitchers in the game. It’s hard to conclude what has caused Lincecum to struggle in his first fifteen starts. But the question on everyone’s mind is: what is next for Lincecum?
From 2007 to 2011, Tim Lincecum ranked fifth in Wins Above Replacement among all starting pitchers. He was simply dominant. In 2008 and 2009, Lincecum became the first pitcher ever to win back-to-back Cy Young awards in their first two full seasons. The Giants largely owe their 2010 World Series title to Lincecum and his 2.43 ERA in the playoffs. Heading into the 2012 season, the Giants reportedly offered Lincecum a five-year, $100 million contract, which he turned down to sign a two-year deal worth about $40 million. Looking back at it, Lincecum probably should have taken the deal which offered him long-term security. Read the rest of this entry
Will Tim Lincecum Turn it Around in 2012?
Tuesday April 24th, 2012
Rob Bland: Since he burst onto the scene as a 23-year-old rookie in 2007, Tim Lincecum has ranked 6th in fWAR. Boasting a fastball that sat around 94 mph, and plus changeup, curveball and slider, Lincecum won back to back National League Cy Young Awards in 2008 and 2009 with the San Francisco Giants. In his first four full seasons, Lincecum threw 881 2/3 innings. Listed on baseball-reference.com at a generous 5’11” and 175 lbs, Lincecum’s delivery is a little bit on the herky-jerky side. How he has been able to withstand such punishment is a bit of a mystery, as his wiry body hurls towards the plate in a violent action that result in a 94 mph fastball.
2012 has not been kind to Lincecum so far. Now, I am not one to worry about small sample sizes, as baseball is a sport of random fluctuation in statistics. Albert Pujols does not have a home run as I write this, more than 15 games into the season. Chase Headley is currently 2nd in fWAR in all of baseball. The LA Dodgers are already 8 games ahead of the San Diego Padres. The Kansas City Royals are in an 11 game losing streak. The season can change on a dime, and we are only 10% of the way through this season. Lincecum’s story, to me, is a bit of a different story. His fastball is averaging below 91 mph. His sinker has less arm side tail; 5 inches in 2012 compared to over 7 inches in 2009. Tim’s curveball and slider don’t have as much depth as they once did, also. A good changeup usually has about 8-10 mph difference off of the fastball, which is where he was in 2009, 93 mph to 84 mph. In 2012, his changeup is still 84 mph, but the biggest problem for Lincecum has been that he has lost velocity off his fastball. He is sitting under 91 mph, so that changeup is not nearly as effective. Read the rest of this entry
An Interview With AT and T ‘Expert’ Tike Narry
Friday, April.13/2012
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- I will have the chance to meet Tike for the Season Opener for the San Francisco Giants. Tike knows his stuff around the bay area and it today’s featured expert for AT&T Park.
CB: “Welcome to the MLB Reports Expert Interview For AT&T Park Tike. Please tell us about yourself and then give us a bit of background information on your life as a baseball Fan?”
TN: “I’m 39 years old, and attended my first baseball game at age 10. I have been a Giants fan my whole life, and have been a Season Ticketholder at AT&T Park since its opening in 2000. I have attended 679 games Major League, regular-season games entering 2012, with a goal of reaching 1,000 by my 50th birthday, and have attended games in 32 different MLB parks (23 current).”
CB: “As one of the ballpark experts who seen virtually every park, how do you rank AT&T Park versus the rest of the home venues?”
TN: “The only park that can come close to matching the setting of AT&T is PNC Park in Pittsburgh. It is spectacular, on the waterfront in China Basin in San Francisco, with a view across to the East Bay. Seats from right field can see the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and there are very few seats with a bad sight-line in the park. My only complaint about AT&T, and it’s a minor quibble, is the width of the concourses, but that’s to be expected when building a park on just 13 acres.” Read the rest of this entry
You Shake, Rattle and Roll On A World Record Chase
Tuesday, April.11/2012
Chuck at Dodger Stadium
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer and- @chuckbooth3024 on twitter)- My step-mom is a retired executive from Air Canada. Back when I was a teenager, Nancy taught me how to travel properly, by how to pack, schedule and always be able to adapt when things go awry. I am pleased to say that she had an incredible influence on me becoming a travel expert now. Her slogan was always; “You gotta learn how to shake, rattle and roll when traveling.” My dad (Tom Booth), helped teach a proper demeanor for my 3 brothers and me while on vacation that I also implement. He said to us “You guys are going to encounter several things when traveling. “If you break, lose or-your items are lost for you, just replace them immediately and don’t let it consume you. After all, why should you be miserable on vacation?” These are motto’s I live by while traveling. I perpetually move forward and don’t look back. While I am glad this trip has generated a lot interest, really the passion here is baseball and traveling. If by some chance I don’t best my own record, I will have fun watching a baseball game in every city again. “You have nothing to prove in this world other to anybody but yourself!”
I have encountered numerous ways of being delayed in chasing baseball parks. Last night was no different. I sat in the San Diego Airport ready to embark on my flight to Cleveland that was supposed to be part of a Progressive Field/Oriole Park at Camden Yards day-night doubleheader. Out of all the 10 doubleheaders that I placed to attempt during this World Record chase, this particular one I would rank the second toughest. The only doubleheader I thought was tougher was the Angel Stadium/Petco Park double header. Ironically enough, I converted that doubleheader. So when the flight was cancelled last night-(due to mechanical failure) I knew I had to think fast on my feet. The Airline was offering up help to fly on other flight, or destinations within reason. Much to my dismay, the airline was not even able to fly me into the second half of the double header n Baltimore, thus creating a plane flight domino. Adding to the severity of the pressure, was I had to think of something fast because the airline needed to help me book a morning flight out of San Diego.
Whenever I plan one of these trips, I have a depth chart for each team. I am lucky that after a few hours of placing this schedule together, I also come up with many different alternatives. Missing the game in Texas the other night for a small delay was nerve-wracking, but maybe it was all meant to be. When I expressed to the airline that I wanted to fly to Dallas, they quickly were on board with that option. The other dominoes came to me quickly. I moved Cleveland to the 25th as part of PNC Park and Progressive Field Ground Transportation doubleheader. As part of my original streak attempt when I first dreamt up another run at this, the schedule had this exact doubleheader. Cleveland was the last team in the Majors to post their start times. When the Indians scheduled a matinee for the 11th of April, it opened up another doubleheader attempt for me by placing the Orioles with Cleveland. All I had to do was bring Detroit into the doubleheader chance with Pittsburgh instead. Now that I am not going to Progressive Field today, I am able to re-schedule the easier to attain doubleheader. Baltimore was switched to the date left vacated by Texas on the 27th of April. This left Detroit. I knew the team played on the 22nd of April.
One of the reasons I went to Chase Field last Friday, was to protect myself against something like last night. That Chase Field game is now the 1st game of the streak. I moved Detroit into their slot on the 22nd. All the teams have a home in the streak again. What is more incredible about this: is that by shifting these cities around and shuffling transportation costs this little maneuver is going to save me $300. I was dreading having to schedule the Texas game after the streak ended, whether it was driving 17 hours or flying, it was going to be costly and time-consuming, I managed to switch out all my flights and actually have a surcharge in my favor. Since I am flying to Denver from Dallas tomorrow, it was a cheaper flight from almost anywhere when you near a travel day fare. Now I am flying to Dallas for a plane fare I spent $160 to originally go to Cleveland for. This day of plane for to Dallas would probably be in the $500-$600 area.
By re-scheduling the trip this way, it also frees up more availability should I have to make up another game or two. That Detroit game doubleheader was risky. If I was running the streak near perfect, I could have risked it and then shuffled the Tigers to the very next day and forego the Cincinnati/Chicago White Sox doubleheader on the 25th. This was not the case and I need that 26th doubleheader. If I kept that doubleheader and missed the Tigers, the next date they were home was April.30th (or the 24th day of the streak.)
Moving Detroit to Sunday the 22nd is pretty decent too, I have a doubleheader for Chicago and Milwaukee on the day before. This is about a 7 hour drive to Michigan. Ken Lee will now attend at least 8 of my games with me for this streak. The Pittsburgh/Cleveland double dip is very doable. The Pirates game should end around 3:30. It is only a couple of hours drive to Progressive Field from there. I would give us a 80-85% chance to hit this game. If for some reason we don’t, the Indians play on the 27th- through the 29th. Other doubleheaders remaining are the TOR-NYY (Yankees play on the 27th-29 in case of miss) ATL-STL (Cardinals play on the 27th-29 in case of miss) CIN/CWS (The White Sox play a series on the 27th-29th). CHI/MIL (The Brewers do not play so I will need the DH). I also give us a 80-85% of making this. Finally I have the Boston/Washington DH (If I miss WSH-I can move them into the Marlins slot of the 17th and then re-do the Marlins from the (27-29 series).
So far I have had 2 missed doubleheaders in this trip that were entirely out of my control. Now a 30-22 schedule hangs in the balance. Whatever happens throughout the rest of the trip is up in the air. The 2009 streak of 30-24 seems even more impressive now than before. In a night where I have already logged 17,000 Air Miles for this trip and running on all fumes, I was able to come up with the best viable solution I could. So whenever I have a chance, I will sleep comfortably about my performance on this trip thus far. I go into tonight’s game looking for my 8th Ball Park in 6 days. Its been a tough 20 hrs-fighting airlines-car rentals not having cars and several doubters and haters-i made it 2 the ballpark-suitcase/briefcase and all-scoreboard says 8 gms 6 days parks 30/22 days
NEW SCHEDULE UPDATED APR 11
With a flight cancellation last night, it has caused me to reschedule several games for the streak. The Arizona D’Backs game now becomes the official game #1. If the game was changed from the original, it will be highlighted in red. I also changed the PIT/DET doubleheader to now be a PIT/CLE Doubleheader on the 25th ave. I lost one of my doubleheader attempts today, but at least I am not taking an a zero.
Game#1 Day #1 Friday April.06 Chase Field in Arizona 4:10 PM (Completed: Arizona wins 5-4)
Game # 2 Day # 2 Saturday April.07 Angels Stadium in Anaheim 1:05 PM (Completed LAA loses 6-3 to KC)
Game # 3 Day # 2 Saturday April.07 Petco Park in San Diego 5:35 PM (I Have 2 doubleheader attempts with SD as Game 2 of the day)( Completed: San Diego loses 6-5 to the LAD in 11 innings)
Game # 4 Day # 3 Sunday April.08 Minute Maid Park in Houston 1:05 PM (Completed: Houston wins 3-2)
Game # 5 Day # 4 Monday April.09 Citizens Bank Ball Park in Philadelphia 1:05 PM (Citizens Bank Ball Park Season Opener) (Completed: Philly loses 6-2 to the Miami Marlins)
Game # 6 Day # 4 Monday April.09 Citi Field in New York (NYM win 3-2 over WSH)
Game # 7 Day # 5 Tuesday April.10 Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles 1:05 PM (Dodger Stadium Season Opener) Completed: LAD wins 2-1 over Pit)
Game # 8 Day # 6 Wednesday April.11 The Ballpark in Arlington 7:05 PM
Game # 9 Day #7 Thursday April.12 Coors Field 1:05 PM
Game #10 Day # 8 Friday April.13 AT&T Park in San Francisco 1:35 PM (AT & T Park Season Opener)
Game # 11 Day # 9 Saturday April.14 Target Field in Minnesota 12:10 PM
Game # 12 Day # 10 Sunday April.15 Rogers Center in Toronto 1:07 PM
Game # 13 Day # 10 Sunday April.15 Yankees Stadium in the Bronx 8:05 PM
Game # 14 Day #11 Monday April.16 Fenway Park in Boston 11:05 AM
Game # 15 Day #11 Monday April.16 Nationals Park in Washington 7:05 PM
Game # 16 Day #12 Tuesday April.17 New Marlins Ballpark 7:05 PM
Game # 17 Day #13 WED April.18 Turner Field in Atlanta 12:10 PM
Game # 18 Day #13 WED April.18 Busch Stadium in St. Louis 7:15 PM
Game # 19 Day #14 THUR April.19 Safeco Field in Seattle 7:10 PM
Game # 20 Day # 15 Friday April.20 Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City 7:10 PM
Game # 21 Day # 16 SAT. April.21 Wrigley Field in Chicago 12:00 PM
Game # 22 Day # 16 SAT. April.21 Miller Park in Milwaukee 6:05 PM
Game # 23 Day # 17 SUN. April.22 Comerica Park in Detroit 1:05 PM
Game # 24 Day # 18 MON. April.23 O.co Coliseum in Oakland 7:05 PM
Game # 25 Day # 19 TUES April.24 Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay 7:05 PM
Game # 26 Day # 20 WED. April.25 PNC Park in Pittsburgh 12:35 PM
Game # 27 Day # 20 WED. April.25 Progressive Field in Cleveland 7:05 PM
Game # 28 Day # 21 THU. April.26 Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati 12:35 PM
Game # 29 Day # 21 THU. April.26 US Cellular Field in Chicago 7:11 PM
Game# 30 Day # 22 FRI April.27 Oriole Park at Camden Yards. 7:05 PM
***Thank you to our Lead Baseball Writer- Chuck Booth for preparing today’s feature on MLB reports. To learn more about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames” and Chuck Booth, you can follow Chuck on Twitter (@ChuckBooth3024) and you can also follow Chuck’s website for his Guinness Book of World Record Bid to see all 30 MLB Park in 23 days click here or on the 30 MLB Parks in 23 days GWR tracker at the Reports click here. To Purchase or read about “The Fastest 30 Ballgames Book, ” please click here ***
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NL West: Value Picks, Up-and-Coming Players and Red Flags in Fantasy Baseball
Tuesday February 14th, 2012
Peter Stein (Fantasy Baseball Analyst – MLB reports): As part of a six series installment to prepare for fantasy drafts, I examine the National League West from a strictly fantasy perspective. Instead of your run of the mill position-by-position rankings, I identify players who fall into the following three categories: value pick, buyer beware, and up-and-coming. The traditional rankings often do a disservice and give owners too close-minded of an approach, particularly in the ROTO format. An owner cannot have a clear-cut strategy and ranking system, as one must adapt to the circumstances on draft day. Remember that you are often building a team for five categories, and you cannot predict which categories you will need to target to offset weaknesses as the draft progresses. Therefore, the key to success is to understand which player’s are over and undervalued, by looking at determinants such as: performance trends, offseason movement, and skill development. We are all aware of the fantasy studs, but the way to build a winning roster is to identify players who provide sneaky good value. Read the rest of this entry
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