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| Articles about Pitching |
| | Pitching Matchups for A's series | | 2008-07-18 17:52:00 | | Game 1 - Today @ 7:05 p.m.TV: MY9; Radio: WCBS 880Mike Mussina RHP (11-6, 3.61) vs. Greg Smith LHP (5-7, 3.43)Game 2 - Tomorrow @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (2-3, 2.61) vs. Justin Duchscherer RHP (10-5, 1.82)Game 3 - Sunday @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Andy Pettitte LHP (10-6, 4.03) vs. Sean Gallager RHP (4-4, 4.25) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | The Pitching Quandry | | 2008-07-16 15:06:00 | | Today on the radio and in print I've been hearing and reading a lot about last night's All-Star Game, and the fact that both managers used up both of their available pitchers and there would have been a serious problem had the game gone further than 15 innings.There's an easy way to avoid that in the future. And it isn't what most so-called "experts" are suggesting.The knee jerk response to what happened with the pitchers last night is "add more pitchers to the roster." Wrong, wrong, wrong. Expanding the rosters isn't the solution.The solution is to better use the pitchers who go in the beginning of the game. The teams carry 12 pitchers, and that is plenty. I believe that the managers should go with just three pitchers for the first six innings. Let three starters pitch two innings apiece, and turn the final three innings over to the closers, or even more starters. You will have as many as six pitchers left should the game go to extra innings and that is fine. (Clint Hurdle actually we | | By: The Mighty Quinn Media Machine | | |
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| Pitching Matchups for Blue Jays Series | | 2008-07-11 16:54:00 | | Game 1 - Today @ 7:07 p.m.TV: MY9; Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (2-2, 2.45) vs. Roy Halladay RHP (10-6, 2.88)Game 2 - Tomorrow @ 1:07 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Darrell Rasner RHP (4-7, 4.94) vs. Jesse Litsch RHP (8-5, 4.01)Game 3 - Sunday @ 1:07 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Andy Pettitte LHP (10-6, 3.93) vs. Brian Tallet LHP (0-1, 3.06) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Rays Series | | 2008-07-08 21:39:00 | | Game 1 - Today @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Andy Pettitte LHP (9-6, 4.22) vs. Scott Kazmir LHP (7-3, 2.63)Game 2 - Tomorrow @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Sidney Ponson RHP (5-1, 4.19) vs. Edwin Jackson RHP (5-6, 4.08) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Sox Series | | 2008-07-03 17:04:00 | | GAME 1: Today: LHP Jon Lester (6-3, 3.48) vs. LHP Andy Pettitte (9-5, 3.98), 7:05, YES GAME 2: Tomorrow RHP Josh Beckett (7-5, 3.65) vs. RHP Darrell Rasner (4-4, 4.22), 1:05, YES GAME 3: Saturday RHP Justin Masterson (4-2, 3.75) vs. RHP Mike Mussina (10-6, 3.87), 3:55, FOX GAME 4: Sunday RHP Tim Wakefield (5-6, 3.72) vs. RHP Joba Chamberlain (2-2, 2.22) vs. 8:05, ESPN | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
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| Pitching Matchups for Rangers Series | | 2008-06-30 15:47:00 | | GAME 1: Today @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Mike Mussina RHP (10-5, 3.93) vs. Scott Feldman RHP (1-3, 4.60)GAME 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (2-2, 2.03) vs. Kevin Millwood RHP (5-4, 5.08)GAME 3: Wednesday @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES; Radio: WCBS 880Sidney Ponson RHP (5-1, 3.50) vs. Luis Mendoza RHP (1-2, 5.40) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Offense Overcomes Pitching In Narrow 8-7 Rangers Victory | | 2008-06-28 02:02:04 | | On June 30th, 2007, the unsurpassed Jamey Newberg penned the following:
You know what I’m terrible at? Really, really awful at? I have an unspeakably difficult time watching Jamey Wright pitch.
That’s about the point I’m at with Kason Gabbard right now - and, to a lesser extent, with C.J. Wilson. They’re absolutely [...] | | By: Baseball Time in Arlington | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Subway Series | | 2008-06-27 13:13:00 | | GAME 1: Today @ 2:05 p.m.TV: MY9, SNY, Radio: WCBS 880, WFAN 660Dan Giese RHP (1-2, 0.64) vs. Mike Pelfrey LHP (4-6, 4.30)GAME 2: Tonight @ 8:10 p.m.TV: YES, CW 11, Radio: WCBS 880, WFAN 660Sidney Ponson RHP (4-1, 3.88) vs. Pedro Martinez RHP (4-4, 6.57)GAME 3: Tomorrow @ 3:55 p.m.TV: FOX, Radio: WCBS 880, WFAN 660Andy Pettitte LHP (8-5, 4.04) vs. Johan Santana LHP (7-6, 2.93)GAME 4: Sunday @ 1:10 p.m.TV: YES, SNY, Radio: WCBS 880, WFAN 660Darrell Rasner RHP (4-5, 4.50) vs. Oliver Perez LHP (5-5, 5.29) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Pirate Series | | 2008-06-24 15:23:00 | | GAME 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m.TV: MY9, Radio: WCBS 880Darrell Rasner RHP (4-4, 3.64) vs. Tom Gorzelanny LHP (5-6, 6.59)GAME 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (0-0, 2.36) vs. Zach Duke LHP (4-4, 3.91)GAME 3: Thursday @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Mike Mussina RHP (10-5, 3.93) vs. Paul Maholm LHP (5-5, 4.41) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Great Arizona Pitching Dooms Boston...D'backs 2 Red Sox 1...More About Carlin | | 2008-06-24 04:27:00 | | What can you say about last night's game except this - Dan Haren was unbeatable. The Red Sox only managed two hits with no runs in the seven innings he pitched, and scored their only run off Pena, who pitched the eighth. Josh Beckett, who knew he had to go eight innings to give the overworked Boston bullpen a breather, did exactly that, and he pitched great, too. He would have won most games with a pitching line like last night's. But a bobble by Moss, who was playing first base because Kevin Youkilis was hit below his right eye on a one-hop throw from Mike Lowell, proved costly, allowing one of the two D'back runs to score. Youk was taken out immediately because the eye started to swell within seconds. Today, he will wake up with quite the shiner, and I hope that's all. The D'backs scored both of their runs in that seventh inning, and they stood up. But the story of the game was Arizona pitcher Dan Haren, who is one of the best in all of baseball. Here's what Josh Beckett and Mike Low | | By: Peter's Red Sox Forever | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Reds Series | | 2008-06-20 11:53:00 | | GAME 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m.TV: MY9, Radio: WCBS 880Mike Mussina RHP (10-4, 3.87) vs. Edinson Volquez RHP (9-2, 1.64)GAME 2: Tomorrow @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Dan Giese RHP (1-1, 1.23) vs. Daryl Thompson RHP (debut)GAME 3: Sunday @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Andy Pettitte LHP (7-5, 4.29) vs. Johnny Cueto RHP (5-7, 5.19) YANKEES INJURY REPORT: * Chien-Ming Wang is out till at least September with a mid-foot tearing of the Lisfranc ligament and a partial tear of the peroneal longus tendon.* Ian Kennedy is on the 15-day DL with with a strained right lat muscle and bursitis under the right shoulder blade.* Phil Hughes is out until at least August with a stress fracture of the rib.* Brian Bruney is out with an injured foot, but could return after the All Star Game.* Jonathan Albaladejo is out for the year with a stress fracture in his right elbow.* Chris Britton is on the 15-day DL with a pulled right ribcage.* Hideki Matsui is day-to-day with an inflamed left knee.REDS INJUR | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Padres Series | | 2008-06-17 16:31:00 | | GAME 1: Tonight @ 7:05 p.m.TV: MY9, Radio: WCBS 880Andy Pettitte LHP (6-5, 4.64) vs. Randy Wolf LHP (5-4, 3.83)GAME 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Darrell Rasner RHP (3-4, 3.64) vs. Jake Peavy RHP (5-3, 2.64) GAME 3: Thursday @ 1:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (1-2, 2.48) vs. Josh Banks RHP (2-0, 1.29) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching v. Hitting, Take Pitching | | 2008-06-14 10:07:57 | | With the Twins struggling to win 3 of their last 10 I thought I’d dive into some AL stats.
As a team the Twins rank 3rd in batting avg and 4th in runs in the AL. But they rank 12th in ERA and 14th in both opponent batting avg and OPS. There is no [...] | | By: TheGoldSeat.com | | |
| | Pitching Matchups for Astros Series | | 2008-06-13 14:15:00 | | GAME 1: Tonight @ 8:05 p.m.TV: MY9, Radio: WCBS 880Joba Chamberlain RHP (1-2, 2.67) vs. Shawn Chacon RHP (2-2, 4.96)GAME 2: Tomorrow @ 7:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Mike Mussina RHP (9-4, 3.82) vs. Wandy Rodriguez LHP (2-2, 1.99) GAME 3: Sunday @ 2:05 p.m.TV: YES, Radio: WCBS 880Chien-Ming Wang RHP (7-2, 4.30) vs. Roy Oswalt RHP (5-6, 5.06) | | By: The Evil Empire | | |
| | Pitching Fuels Rangers’ 6-3 Victory Over Dangerous Rays | | 2008-06-09 05:39:45 | | No Josh Hamilton. No Michael Young.
Doug Mathis, one of the American League’s more volatile young pitchers through the first month of his big league career, squaring off against the respectable Matt Garza on a suffocatingly warm Sunday afternoon at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
And yet, somehow, a tremendously satisfying victory, salvaging at least one win from [...] | | By: Baseball Time in Arlington | | |
| | Pitching, Defense and Clutch Hitting | | 2008-05-28 00:16:23 | | Game Fifty-Two - Cubs 3 Dodgers 1
WP - Sean Gallagher (2-1) LP - Hiroki Kuroda (2-4) Save - Kerry Wood (12)
Lou Piniella's crew won the second game of a series for the first time since May 10th on a cold night in Chicago. Sean Gallagher pitched a very good game and turned in the longest outing of his brief big league career. Gallagher held the Dodgers to 1 run on 4 hits over 7 innings. Despite committing 2 errors on the night, the Cubs defense was the difference in the game, especially Kosuke Fukudome. The Cubs' right fielder turned in a tremendous diving catch in the 6th inning and caught a ball off the bat of Juan Pierre in the 8th that appeared destined to roll all the way to the ivy.
The Cubs offense hit the ball hard early in the game against Hiroki Kuroda but due to the weather conditions they turned into routine fly balls. The Cubs managed only 5 hits off of Kuroda through the first 6 innings and a failed sacrifice bunt attempt helped keep them off the board until the 7th.
R | | By: Chicago Cubs Online | | |
| | Baseball Betting Underdogs & Quality Starting Pitching | | 2008-05-27 13:25:39 | | Article Courtesy of Ben Burns Consulting, A Professional Sports Handicapper Featured at Touthouse.com
Click Here to Purchase Ben Burns Expert MLB Baseball Betting Picks
It’s amazing what some quality pitching atop the rotation can do. I’m not talking about 4-5 terrific starters, just one or two guys to anchor the rotation. Two good starters can have a [...] | | By: Touthouse Free Sports Picks | | |
| | Hawk Suspended For Pitching At Prey | | 2008-05-22 12:34:00 | | Pitcher LaTroy Hawkins of the New York Yankees has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area of Luke Scott during the top of the sixth inning of the Tuesday, May 20th game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Bob Watson, Vice President of On-Field Operations for Major League Baseball, made the announcement.Of course, Hawkins will appeal.
| | By: The Bronx Stop: Just Another New York Yankees Blog | | |
| | Quality Defense, Pitching Spark Rangers To 5-2 Win | | 2008-05-14 03:21:38 | | Just nineteen days ago, the rapidly fading season of the utterly hapless Texas Rangers - who were coming fresh off a disastrous 2-7 road trip that had sent their 2008 record plummeting to 7-16, burying them a full seven games behind the first-place Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - appeared to be [...] | | By: Baseball Time in Arlington | | |
| | What happened to Padres' starting pitching? | | 2008-05-13 14:47:00 | | Remember when the Padres bragged about having perhaps the best starting pitching rotation in Major League Baseball?Well, don’t look now, but …Jake Peavy (4-2, 2.47) is not pitching like a Cy Young winner.Chris Young (3-3, 3.94) has turned very average.Greg Maddux (3-3, 3.60) will probably be gone to a contending team in July.Randy Wolf (2-3, 5.16) has had a terrible May.Aging Shawn Estes will make his first major-league start in more than two years tonight against the Chicago Cubs.The starting pitchers were once thought to be the only strength among the Padres. Now, it looks as if the team does not have any strengths at all. | | By: San Diego Sporting | | |
| | Minor Update: Philles pitching prospects emerging | | 2008-05-12 21:33:44 | | In the off-season, the Phillies couldn’t engage in talks for big name pitchers like Dan Haren or Johan Santana or even medium name pitchers like Joe Blanton or Jon Garland because of their lack of elite minor league talent.
Going into the season, they had only 2 top-100 prospects in RHP Carlos Carrasco and LHP Joe Savery. [...] | | By: The Recliner GM Sports Blog | | |
| | | All About Z Pitching | | 2008-04-06 17:57:27 | | Game Six - Cubs 3 Astros 2
WP - Carlos Zambrano (1-0) LP - Oscar Villarreal (0-2) Save - Kerry Wood (3)
Lou Piniella's crew won their first one run game of the year on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley. Carlos Zambrano picked up his first win of the young season with a solid 7-inning outing. Zambrano gave up 2 runs on 7 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks....Big Z has walked only 1 batter in his first 13 2/3 innings of 2008. Zambrano retired 12 of the last 13 batters he faced. Miguel Tejada tied the game in the 7th with his first home run as a Astro.
Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect 8th and Kerry Wood picked up his 3rd save in as many opportunities. Wood retired the heart of the Astros' order in the 9th that included striking out Miguel Tejada to end the game.
Derrek Lee broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 7th with his second home run in as many days. Lee's third of the year was the difference in the game. Alfonso Soriano made a difference in the field and at the plate. He hit his first h | | By: Chicago Cubs Online | | |
| | Pitching was filthy in Cubs first win | | 2008-04-03 22:15:00 | | Ryan Dempster pitched 6 strong innings allowing 2 runs (the first 2 batters of the game), one of earned on 3 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts. His pitches were moving all over the place. He looked unhittable at times. Only one start, but I’ll take it. It was a great return to the mound for Dempster. Marmol pitched 2 innings and he’s always filthy. Wood got the first save of his career.
The Cubs won the game 6-3. | | By: Another Cubs Blog | | |
| | Now Pitching for the Yankees, Kei Igawa!?!?! | | 2008-03-27 10:40:00 | | Apparently this bum guy actually has a chance to make the team.From Mark Feinsand:IGAWA IN? Kei Igawa will start Thursday against the Pirates, making his final pitch for the long-relief spot in the bullpen. Although Jeff Karstens and Darrell Rasner were considered the two top candidates, Igawa has moved into the race, with one Yankees official saying he would be considered the front-runner with a strong effort today.I don't know about you, but I don't have much faith in the guy.
| | By: Sliding Into Home | | |
| | Prosper Pitching To Hedge Funds | | 2008-03-24 21:31:00 | | I almost overlooked this little nugget. Prosper has taken to pitching it's lending platform as the perfect solution for hedge funds to get into the consumer credit market.
“Prosper is America’s largest peer-to-peer marketplace with over 600,000 members,” stated Kirk Inglis, CFO of Prosper. “As credit markets experience unprecedented changes, institutional lenders, including hedge funds, are
| | By: Prosperous Land | | |
| | Piniella settles pitching spots | | 2008-03-24 14:12:30 | | Lou Piniella followed through and settled the debate announcing his starters and closer for the year.
The rotation will be Z, Lilly, Dempster, Hill, and Marquis. Lieber will start the year as the long man out of the bullpen. Piniella also confirmed that Wood will begin the year as the closer with Marmol and Howry as [...] | | By: The Cub Reporter | | |
| | A Look Ahead....Predicting the Pitching Staff for 2008 | | 2008-03-21 04:00:00 | | A couple of weeks back the CCO took a look at the Cubs' offense for the upcoming season. Today the second of the CCO's 3-part preseason predictions will focus on Lou Piniella's pitching staff.
Lou Piniella still has a few decisions to make.... Which two pitchers will fill out the rotation? Who will end up closing for the Cubs? Bobby Howry? Carlos Marmol? Or will Kerry Wood stay healthy enough to pitch in the 9th inning? Will Scott Eyre be the only lefty?
| | By: Chicago Cubs Online | | |
| | Spring Training Battles: Starting Pitching | | 2008-03-11 08:19:36 | | You can find this article and plenty more at our new home at thecubreporter.com. So please reset your bookmarks and we hope to see you there soon.
The Cubs are a little over two weeks into spring training with about three weeks before Opening Day. It’s time to check in on the yearly ritual of spring [...] | | By: The Cub Reporter | | |
| | | Rangers Continue Search For Pitching Help | | 2007-12-31 20:05:22 | | Before I begin, I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates over the last few days. We’re getting to (or are already at) that point in the off-season where the Texas Rangers are either making news in sudden, unexpected bursts, or not at all. The latter was most certainly in full effect over the [...] | | By: Baseball Time in Arlington | | |
| | Why You People Need to Quit Screwing Around and Embrace SABR Already, Part IV: PITCHING | | 2007-10-23 19:30:00 | |
Today we run the fourth and final installment of Maddog's remedial SABR class. I want to take this opportunity to thank Maddog for taking the time to write this entire series, which has been not only interesting but thought-provoking as well. I know its clarified a lot of different stats for me.
INTRO TO SABERMETRICS: PITCHING
There are numerous sabermetric pitching stats available. In fact, I probably check out more of those than I do for hitting, but there are a few that stand out in my opinion. VORP is computed for pitchers in a similar way that it is for hitters. Replacement level starters are different than replacement level relievers so there are 2 sets of replacement numbers. To briefly explain the process for finding what replacement level is for a pitcher, the easiest way that I can explain this is that all the pitchers are given a numeric label based on the number of starts they made. Each player who made the most starts on a team is assigned a 1. The 2nd most starts a 2 and on down to 5. For example, Ted Lilly and Carlos Zambrano made 34 starts for the Cubs so they would be 1 and 2 (1 for Zambrano more than likely since he pitched more innings). Jason Marquis would be 3, Rich Hill 4, and Sean Marshall 5. This is done for all 30 teams and all the starts not made by someone who is a 1 through 5 are averaged out and that is essentially a replacement level starting pitcher. It's intersting to note that since the 5-man rotation began in the late 1960s the percentage of starts made by the top 5 starters on a team have ranged from 78% to 85% in a given season. I mentioned earlier that most position players replacement level is about 80% of what the average is. It's the same with starting pitching. The average team dips into replacement level starting pitchers about 30 starts per year, which as you know is about a full seasons worth of starts.
To calculate replacement level for relief pitchers a similar method is used. Each reliever on a team is listed in descending order of innings pitched. Those innings are added and then you take all the relievers that make up at least 80% of the innings pitched (the ones who threw the most innings) leaving the remaining 20% who threw the fewest innings. Those 20% are averaged together league wide and they become replacement level relief pitchers.
Jake Peavy led all MLB pitchers with a 77.0 VORP. Next up was Brandon Webb at 66.1. Peavy was significantly better than any pitcher in baseball this season. Ted Lilly ranked 24th in baseball at 46.7 and Carlos Zambrano 29th at 43.5. 30 teams, 30 aces, the Cubs had 2 in the top 29...not bad.
The Cubs pitching VORP leaders were Lilly and Zambrano as mentioned above. Rich Hill was 3rd at 40.3. The Cubs top 3 were pretty impressive this season. Carlos Marmol, despite not playing an entire season was 4th on the team at 34.5 VORP followed by Howry and Wuertz. Sean Marshall has 16.7 VORP and Jason Marquis 16.5 VORP.
The other non-relief pitching stat I like is Fair Run Average (Fair RA). Imagine this scenario: Jason Marquis gives up 2 runs in 5 innings and then loads the bases with nobody out before Carlos Marmol comes in to strike the side out allowing none of those inherited runners to score. Now imagine the same scenario with Carlos Zambrano doing the same thing and Ryan Dempster then surrendering a grand slam so that all 3 inherited runners scored. At the end of the day it appears that Jason Marquis pitched so much better than Carlos Zambrano did. 2 runs in 5 innings compared to 5 runs in 5 innings. Marquis ERA takes advantage of Marmol striking out the side while Zambrano's ERA takes a hit because Dempster surrendered the grand slam. Both pitchers essentially pitched the same ballgame.
Fair RA takes inherited runners into account as well as bequeathed runners. Inherited runners is something the current releiver inherits when he comes to the mound. Bequeathed runners are what the pitcher leaving the mound leaves for the reliever to inherit. If one pitcher fares terribly because relievers allowed so many bequeathed runners to score while another one benefitted from great relief work it's impossible for us to know this by simply looking at ERA. And this is important. It's important because we can assume that an average number of inherited/bequeathed runners are going to score. If one pitcher was lucky in that regard, his ERA reflects it, but his Fair RA assumed the average number of inherited/bequeathed runners scoring so that comparisons between pitchers are more fair. This way lucky and unlucky bastards alike can be compared in a way that is fair to all pitchers.
Each moment in the game there is a certain number of runs that can be expected to score in that half inning. For example, with nobody on and nobody out, there is a run expectancy of 0.555. Runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out, the run expectancy is 1.573. Bases loaded with 2 outs, 0.815 runs can be expected to score. Obviously only whole runs can score, but this run expectancy chart is used for Fair RA.
If Carlos Zambrano leaves the game with runners on 1st and 2nd with outs, the run expectancy (RE) is 0.466. Wuertz comes into the game with 2 runners on, but 2 outs and an RE of 0.466. If Wuertz then gives up a 3-run home run, ERA considers both of those runs earned and off of Carlos Zambrano. Fair RA gives only 0.466 runs to Zambrano and 2.534 to Wuertz. 2 minus 0.466 equals 1.534 plus the guy who hit the home run...2.534. Let's say Wuertz gets out of the inning without giving up a run. 0.466 runs is still given to Carlos Zambrano since that was the RE when he left and Wuertz is is given -0.466 runs because he "saved" .466 runs from scoring.
Peavy's Fair RA was 2.74. As for the Cubs, well, Clay Rapada led the team with a Fair RA of -8.05. He must have escaped serious damage in his one-third of an inning pitched with the Cubs.Kevin Hart's was next 0.63 followed by Marmol at 1.01. Then you had Howry, Wuertz, Wood, Guzman and Ted Lilly at 4.07 and Carlos Zambrano at 4.12. Rich Hill was 4.13. Wade Miller, the one we all can't forget soon enough, was the worst with a Fair RA of 10.85. Since we're covering the entire bases here, Sean Marshall was 4.52, Jason Marquis 5.25, Steve Trachsel 7.93.
In my opinion, the best sabermetric bullpen stat is Win Expectation above Replacement, Lineup-adjusted (WXRL). To understand this stat we must first understand win expectation (WX). At any given time in a game each team has a certain percentage chance of winning the game. This is based on all of the games played over a large period of time. Some databases go back to include all games as far back as 1958. We know exactly how many times a team has come back to win a game in which they trail in the 7th inning, runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, and down by 3. For exmple, when the home team trails by one run going into the bottom of the 7th inning, the home team has gone on to win 39.4% of the time, or .394. At every point along the way each team has a certain percent chance of winning.
If a reliever comes into the game when his team has a 0.9 chance (90%), and he gives up a bunch of runs and then leaves the game with his
team having a 0.1 chance (10%) of winning the game, he has cost his team 0.8 wins. Had he finished the game and gotten a save, he would have given his team 0.1 win. That's Win Probability Added (WPA). In WXRL, replacement level is included and I'm unsure of the exact method they use to calculate it, but it's very similar. If you helped improve your team's chances of winning by 10%, you're
given 0.1 WXRL (after lineup adjustment, etc., which we aren't concerned about here). The higher the leverage the greater difference the reliever can make.
Each reliever, over the course of the season will have many positive WXRL outings and some negative ones as well (hopefully more positive
than negative). The are all added up as the season moves along and it's the relievers WXRL. It's the number of wins expected above replacement that he has added to his team. JJ Putz led the majors with a WXRL of 7.419. Rafael Betancourt was 2nd at 6.845. Carlos Marmol was 19th in the league just behind Mariano Rivera 2.657, which isn't as good as you'd like for your closer.
Again, I've covered only a few of the stats available, but I think the ones I touched on over the last few days is a good place for anyone to start. Hopefully I've gotten a few of you interested to take a deeper look at these and other metrics. Don't be afraid of the numbers. Don't be afraid of such terms as run expectancy or win expectancy. Both are rather simple concepts that if I haven't explained well enough it would take you little time to fully understand them. Most importantly, don't ignore a stat because it has an acronym you are unfamiliar with. All of the acronyms that you are currently familiar with seemed silly and outrageous at one time or another whether it was as simple as batting average (AVG), which caused a furor among sportswriters.
Lastly, challenge them. Challenge all of the stats available whether they're sabermetric or traditional stats. Like all stats, these too have their flaws. There's no such thing as a perfect stat. I do believe these stats give us a much better idea of who is contributing and who is not and at what level they are contributing. After all, this is a game of individual contributions and they can indeed be measured. WARP tries to narrow it down to one simple, but most important number...additional wins. It's not really any different than the stats you see on the back of a baseball card and begin comparing to other cards you have to figure out which player is better. All stats have value. Whether it's one as flawed as the RBI or as subjective as an error, it has value. Sabermetrics tries to determine that value.
| | By: A League of Her Own | | |
| | Some serious pitching | | 2007-10-19 23:13:00 | | This is the best wiffle ball pitcher I have seen. I use to be able to pitch pretty good,but now it hurts my arm. H/T to Dr Tony at Blonde Sagacity
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]] | | By: Stix Blog | | |
| | | | Prosper Pitching to E-Bay Sellers | | 2007-08-27 14:20:00 | | I was ready to call it a week and then I saw a post over at Money Smart Life that had a juicy tid-bid. Prosper hosted a workshops through E-Bay targeted toward small business financing. All the people selling random stuff on E-Bay, and Prosper's lenders are underwriting it
Need a small business loan and not sure where to get it? Or, are you certain a loan is what you need? In this informative
| | By: Prosperous Land | | |
| | Padres need starting pitching | | 2007-08-03 17:46:00 | | In the immediacy, let’s hope the Padres do not allow Barry Bonds to break the Major League Baseball home run record in San Diego this weekend.But there’s suddenly an even bigger issue with Padres’ pitching.Jake Peavy is finally back on track, but:Chris Young is injured.Greg Maddux can’t go past five or six innings, even when he’s on.David Wells is getting paid $170,000 (on top of his $3 million base salary) each start to get pummeled.Justin Germano isn’t fooling anyone any more with his hanging breaking ball.Enter Clay Hensley. The injury-plagued pitcher has had a terrible 2007 season thus far, but he seems to have regained his form in a pair of three-inning relief stints since being recalled from the minors.Let’s see how he does in Saturday’s start against the San Francisco Giants.Luckily for the Padres, the Dodgers and Arizona are not deep in starting pitching either.So, it may all come down to a battle of attrition in the NL West. | | By: San Diego Sporting | | |
| | Great Pitching, No Big Hits Equals .500 Baseball | | 2007-07-16 12:28:00 | | Mediocrity ruled yet again yesterday at Fenway Park. One run crossed the plate safely for the home team. One lone run. Josh Beckett was impeccable, Timlin was just fine, but the Boston Red Sox just couldn't come up with a clutch hit. The Totonto Blue Jays defeated the Sox 2-1. That's right, another 2-1 game. For the Sox to remain in first place through the month of September, they cannot play .500 baseball any longer. It's literally sickening! And the Yankees are now single digits back. The less I say about Sunday's game, the better, but the Sox have come out of the All Star break splitting four games with those Jays. Simply, that is NOT ACCEPTABLE. No way, no how.KC comes to Fenway for three games starting today. Anything other than a sweep is another indication that this team needs another hitter, or another hitting coach. I do not get it. The good news? It looks like we'll see Schill back within 10 days. But all the pitching in the world can't help a team that scores one damn | | By: Peter's Red Sox Forever | | |
| | Missed Chances And Poor Pitching. Schilling Update | | 2007-07-14 12:16:00 | | Julian Tavarez has become a liability to the starting rotation of the Boston Red Sox. He has failed to get out of the fifth inning in three of his last four starts, and hasn't won in recent memory while putting an unnecessary strain on the bullpen. When Schilling comes back (see article below), I say keep Gabbard, an effective lefty, in the rotation and banish Tavy to the 'pen, where he'll give us one or two good innings.....when needed.Last night Tavy went four plus innings, giving up nine hits and four runs. He threw 101 pitches in those four plus innings, and that's way too much. The Sox led 2-0 after one on a Manny home run, but the Jays scored four big ones in the third inning to take the lead. But in the bottom of that frame, the Sox came back with three to take a 5-4 lead. But then Snyder, on in relief of Tavarez, opened the floodgates, leading to the last two runs of the game, and a 6-5 Blue Jays lead. That was the final score, even though Papi and Manny were up in the bott | | By: Peter's Red Sox Forever | | |
| | | Now pitching… The Lefty-Righty | | 2007-06-15 00:52:14 | |
Even if you’re not a baseball fan (communist)… you gotta admit this is pretty freakin’ incredible. There’s this kid pitching for the Creighton University baseball team who can pitch with both arms. And he’s pretty darn good with each.
His name is Pat Venditte, and he’s a junior who, as you can imagine, is starting to get catch the eye of pro scouts. He’s got a specially made glove, so he can switch hands and pitch with either arm during the same inning.
Umpires working Creighton’s games have to dust off seldom-used rules regarding switch-pitchers. Like everyone else, Venditte gets only eight warm-up pitches upon entering a game and five before any inning, whether he chooses to throw left-handed or right-handed, and may not warm up again if he changes arms midinning.
Here’s the link to NYTimes story about him (you may need to register, but it’s free). There’s a short clip of him pitching with both arms during warmups.
| | By: TubaPants | | |
| | Even with a 21-10 start and Josh Beckett pitching ... | | 2007-05-09 04:28:00 | | Even with a 21-10 start and Josh Beckett pitching very well for the moment, there just might be a little trouble in Paradise. And it's brewing over something of marginal importance at best. Curt Schilling and David Ortiz have found themselves on the opposite sides of the Barry Bonds question. The real question is why are they talking about Bonds when they don't play the Giants for weeks?To be fair, Schilling was responding to a question asked while he was appearing on Dennis and Callahan when he made his comments about Bonds. It probably would have been better had he no commented, though. Why give your opponent bulletin board material? Why take attention away from important stories like Josh Beckett preparing to fall back to Earth any day now?Schilling is right that this whole thing has nothing to do with race, at least for the vast majority of fans. What people seem to ignore when they try to make this an issue of race raised is the Barry Bonds is an African-American chasing another | | By: Sedition In Red Sox Nation | | |
| | Young pitching phenoms traveling a dangerous road | | 2007-04-25 15:58:00 | | Mark Prior underwent exploratory surgery on his right shoulder Tuesday, his season and his career now in doubt. Francisco Liriano is out for the season with an elbow injury. Toronto just transferred closer B.J. Ryan to the 60-day disabled list with a bad elbow.The list of big-name pitchers who are injured, many with season or career-threatening problems, is long. It illustrates the fragile nature of pitching, and highlights why the New York Yankees decision to bring 20-year-old Phil Hughes to the big leagues already is a dangerous one.Just the other day the Seattle Mariners put their own 20-year-old pitching phenom, Felix Hernandez, on the 15-day DL with an arm injury following a pair of 100+ pitch outings. Scott Kazmir, the young Tampa Bay ace was shut down late last season with shoulder woes.Just ask the Cubs, who have seen the careers of Prior and Kerry Wood ruined, how much damage asking too much too soon can do.One can only hope that Hernandez, as well as Kazmir, aren't headed fo | | By: Valentine's Views on Sports | | |
| | Practical thoughts on Pitching | | 2007-04-18 08:01:00 | | When you are raising funding for your start-up, you will have to make a pitch about your business proposal to a group of angel or VCs investors. This post is not meant to give you tips on the complete content and style of the presentation, there are plenty of published advice already and I have posted on a few times in the past as well, which will describe what key information is required,In summary though, your presentation should answer the following questions:• What are you going to sell?• Who will buy your product or service?• What is the potential market size? • What is the average selling price? • How are you going to sell it? • Who is your competition? • Who are the team members that will make all this happen?• What are the financial projections and exit possibilities for the lenders?You should not require more than 10 to 15 slides for this, three of which should purely focus on the financials projections for three years. First of all, you should mentally prepar | | By: Gordon Whyte's Blog of the daily challenges of an | | |
| | Yankee pitching mirrors my golf game | | 2007-04-15 22:47:00 | | I am back in upstate New York after spending a week in South Carolina. Today, I have been greeted by cold temperatures, rain, snow, sleet, wind and just plain old ugly weather.I still appear to have a golf hangover, however.That's because when I look at the New York Yankees pitching staff through the first 10 games, I compare it to my golf game.There's been some good, a whole lot of ugly and there is still an awful lot of potential for improvement.First, let's look at the starting pitchers. The Yankees announced today that Mike Mussina (hamstring) and Carl Pavano (forearm) have been placed on the 15-day DL. That makes an already shaky starting situation for the Yankees even more unpredictable.A lot like my play off the tee, the Yankee starting pitching has been a little of everything through 10 games. There have been a couple of very good games, some truly awful ones and a few OK ones where the chief complaint would be that the starter simply didn't go far enough to help an already | | By: Valentine's Views on Sports | | |
| | Forum Advertising - Pitching AGLOCO to Like-Minded People | | 2007-03-10 00:09:25 | | If you're about the web a lot, no doubt you've encountered many forums, some of which you love, some of which you hate. Either way, they can be a great place to spread the word about AGLOCO, and grow your network.If you don't know what a forum is, you've got a lot of catching up to do. Basically, it's a site where a bunch of like-minded people talk about various topics, but usually specific ones (there are sports forums, motorbike forums, origami forums, etc). If you talk a lot, you'll get known in the community, and people will pay more attention to you. Some forums like MyLot pay you to post, giving you money through revenue sharing.I'm a "contributing" member of a couple large and small forums, so naturally I would post an ad about AGLOCO on them. You should post on a forum that you're a member of, or a forum that suits your interests. I suggest making some posts on that forum first, otherwise you'll probably get banned, seen as a spammer. Be sure to read the forum's FAQ first before posting, or check with the admin if you're allowed to post an ad. Posting isn't the only way to get your message across to a forum - you can PM (private message) other members, or put a link in your signature. Adhere to the rules, though.Posting an adFirst of all, I want to say that before you post an ad, check with either the site admin or the FAQ. A lot of big forums get a lot of spam, and most forums have rules regarding advertising posts. If you're not allowed to post an AGLOCO ad, then don't. Not only will you get banned from the forum, you might also get banned from AGLOCO.The similarities between posting a forum ad and posting a MySpace bulletin are so numerous that I won't go into an in-depth explanation of how to go about pitching AGLOCO to your forum audience. What I will do, however, is offer you these few pointers:Incorporate the forum topic into the post. People are more likely to join AGLOCO if they feel as though your pitch is directly related to them. F | | By: Dominate AGLOCO | | |
| | | Pitching? | | 2006-06-11 17:37:21 | | So I guess I will rage against the machine that is Boston Red Sox management. I am not the type of Red Sox fan that panic's over every little thing, but I am, however a realist on the matter... | | By: Red Sox Nation Daily | | |
| | Pitching??? | | 2006-05-30 15:05:49 | | I am not saying it's time to hit the in case of emergency sign break glass button but it may be getting close. I remember a time not to long ago, that time being called spring training, that Theo... | | By: Red Sox Nation Daily | | |
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