Comments
The last twenty comments in true blog fasion, with the links to their authors and the player commented upon.
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The pain of what he did in 2008 for the Padres does not override my respect for the rest of his career ... including his catch in Game 7 of the 2004 NLCS ... very much worth the look back!
Homered, and was MVP, in the Fall Stars game. Still playing multiple positions, and hitting .407 as of 12 September.
Somewhat surprisingly (given that he hit 7 HRs in 2018 and 11 in 2019), he was leading the Fall League with 7 after just 15 games.
Last Wednesday (the 9th), just got into town in time to see a barnburner of a game. Mesa had an 8-4 lead going into the 9th, but Surprise scored 4 to tie it on three hits (including a Bubba Thompson HR) and 4 walks. Surprise scored 4 more in the top of the 10th, on three hits (and a Rylan Bannon HR), a walk and an HBP. Mesa "only" got two runs in the bottom of the inning, putting an end to a game lasting 3 hours and 41 minutes. (It was also 95 degrees -- we felt a little sorry for the players from the shaded grandstand.) We had a great time, of course.
Oh I think it's very measurable -- how far does the ball go, on average, when it leaves the bat at a certain speed at a certain launch angle, in a certain ballpark under certain atmospheric conditions, struck by batters of a certain dimension, batting left or right against lefties or righties -- and if a ball hit with exactly those parameters travels not quite as far, it's fair to say it's not quite as lively.
Statcast even knows how the speed in mid-flight compares to exit speed.
It probably measures top spin vs. back spin, another variable.
Each front office has all of this information the second the ball leaves the bat. Somebody looking at a computer last night in Houston knew the game was over before the crowd did.
That might be an exaggeration. Everyone knew the game was over at the sound of the bat (which probably is also measured).
He was called out on a bad pitch to end the top of the 11th. The ump might have been trying to make amends for thinking he got a piece of the ball two pitches earlier.
It can fairly be said he did it all.
On Friday afternoon at First Pitch Arizona we had our annual XFL auction. This is the 18th year of the keeper league, which has until this year auctioned the first week of November and then had a 17 round reserve draft in March. The AFL season moved up this year, and so did First Pitch.
There are 15 keepers, some active on the 23 man roster and some Farm inactive on the 17 man reserve. This year Alex and I had $63 available for three outfielders, one utility and five pitchers.
The good part of this exercise is that we have Will Smith, Gary Sanchez, Freddie Freeman, Mike Moustakas, Trea Turner, Trevor Story, Luis Arraez, Mike Trout, Craig Morton, Noah Syndergaard and Jesus Luzardo on our team already, at good prices.
On Friday I bought Eduardo Rodriguez, Wil Myers, David Dahl, Rich Hill, Merrill Kelly, Clint Frazier, Nick Anderson, Jordan Hicks and (at Alex's suggestion) Skye Bolt.
We also have the fourth and seventh picks in the March draft, so there should be real productivity/value there. One feature of this league is that no lists or outside materials are allowed. You sit with a blank roster sheet and a list of available players and that's it. Which doesn't mean I didn't put together a list. I just had to keep it in my pocket.
The Baseball Reference newsletter today has a listing of top starters in postseason games, because Stephen Strasburg is now No. 2 (behind Sandy Koufax), but a look at the bottom of the list reveals Newcombe. He made five post season starts, had one complete game, with no wins in 22 innings and an 8.59 ERA. His regular season career was a good bit better.