TruffleShuffle

This is way too close. 13-8I? Come on.

Can't believe he's made his way back to the big leagues... An old friend

Or, you're reading something into the post that isn't there? His splits are very strange. That was my point.

Well he's hitting over .300 so he must just kill the 0-0 and 0-1 pitches. 0-0 and anything after 1-0. He's awful if he gets behind in the count. That's not all that uncommon. His splits are. Almost everyone is better after 1-0 than 0-1, but most guys don't have a 2:1 difference in OPS given those situations. Most guys also don't have a 1600 OPS when putting the first pitch of the AB in play, and most guys are a lot better than 1-53 with 30 strikeouts when they get in a 2 strike hole.

Justin Verlander = The Man

awesome

That's actually a really good average for that situation.

No, he counts as a second baseman. He played 1746 games at 2B before this season at 2B, as opposed to 427 at catcher and about 300 in the outfield.

Well he's hitting over .300 so he must just kill the 0-0 and 0-1 pitches. 0-0 and anything after 1-0. He's awful if he gets behind in the count.

ESPN says he's gotten 1 hit, a double after being down 0-2. He's also hitting .349 in the 6 spot, as opposed to only .260 when batting 7th, and we all know the crazy lefty/righty splits. Another interesting (but small sample size) stat is his .063 BA (1/16) when being up on the count 3-1. Stupid Mets stats! Regardless, his splits are pretty extreme. He has a 189/208/322/530 line when the first pitch of his AB is a strike and is not put in play; when it's a ball, his line is 355/408/618/1026. Basically, he's got twice as good of a chance fo do something productive after a 1-0 count than with an 0-1 count. His numbers when putting the first pitch in play are spectacular, too: 23-39 with 4 HRs, with a line of 590/590/1026/1616. So, when he swings at the first pitch and puts it in play, he's in great shape, but if he misses it or fouls it off, he's screwed.

Rank your top 10 catchers of all-time. I'll put in for your consideration the top 25 catchers from Bill James' top 100 rankings, which he uses win shares to rate, as well as any catchers who are in the HOF but did not make James' top 25 list. Consider only their major league numbers - i.e., for Roy Campanella, do not take into account his years in the Negro Leagues. Linked are the baseball-reference.com statistics for each player. Number 1 is to be the best all-time catcher, and so on. I'll mention this just once, but as is noted in James' book, it's important to understand the era during which players played. For this, take a look through the American League numbers from its inception. As is pretty evident, most of the 1900s and 1910s were part of a "dead ball" era in which pitchers dominated; then offense dominated in the 1920s and 1930s. Pitching was a little more effective during WWII, then the years from WWII to 1960 were pretty even between the pitchers and hitters. From 1963-1972, pitchers took over once again. Beginning in about 1986, pitching was overwhelmed by hitting. What does all this mean? James says that the natural tendancy is to compare one player's numbers to another's without understand the context. So, the most frequently screwed over players, in terms of making the HOF, are hitters who played in a pitchers' era or in a pitchers' park for much of their careers; or, pitchers who played during a hitters' era and pitched in a bandbox. To level the playing field, I encourage people to look at ERA+ and OPS+, as well as a player's ranking against his peers in various statistical categories. Johnny Bench Yogi Berra Bob Boone Roger Bresnahan Roy Campanella Gary Carter Mickey Cochrane Darren Daulton Bill Dickey Buck Ewing Rick Ferrell Carlton Fisk Bill Freehan Gabby Hartnett Elston Howard Ernie Lombardi Tim McCarver Thurman Munson Lance Parrish Mike Piazza (active) Darrell Porter Ivan Rodriguez (active) Ray Schalk Wally Schang Ted Simmons Gene Tenace Joe Torre

I am watching the game between the Cubs and Mets on WB-11 out of New York. When Jacque Jones reaches an 0-2 count, these are the outcomes of his ABs: 0-53, 30 strikeouts That's almost hard to do. Maybe just to speed up the game, they can call him out if he gets in a 2-strike hole the rest of the year?

France's goal was on a penalty kick that was awarded due to a dive. The game shouldn't have even gone to overtime. No they didn't. Gee, wonder who you were rooting for.

I would have voted for anybody in this poll over Dave Matthews. That includes KISS, Yes and Genesis.

Is Bob Dylan being considered folk? If so, that's fine, but if you're considering him to be rock, his omission from this tourney is a travesty.

Is there anything you actually like? There's nothing wrong with thinking Genesis sucks.

Genesis blows

I'm with this guy. What they said

Don't tell me Lynyrd Skynyrd is going to win this matchup.

Harvey has rendered himself completely useless as a position prospect.

Those of you who don't know Mariano Rivera??? He's not a rookie, McCarver.

who cares?

It's ok, I'd rather the Tigers have home-field in the World Series

hey, i didn't know dempster was on the all-star team

Haha, way to jinx Eckstein by calling him one of the best 2 strike hitters in baseball.