Author: The Baseball Zealot

MLB announces 2010 All-Star logo

Wasting no time, MLB has come out with logos for the 2010 All-Star game that will be held in Angel Stadium:

 

 

Via The Biz of Baseball:

The official logo of Major League Baseball’s 2010 All-Star Game features a red dimensional star encircled by the silver halo of the Angels. The beveled star serves as an icon that represents the showcase of Major League Baseball’s finest talent. The unique typography of the 81st Midsummer Classic also reflects the dimensional beveling inspired by the host Club.
“Major League Baseball is pleased that the 2010 All-Star Game will be hosted by the Angels, one of the model franchises of our sport,” said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. “The enduring success of the Angels under Arte Moreno both on and off the field is remarkable. I am thrilled that the 2010 All-Star Game will spotlight a Club that embodies Major League Baseball’s commitment to providing affordable, family entertainment.”

10 things ESPN TV doesn’t need

My list of ten things that ESPN could get rid of and would make me a happier (and more attentive) viewer:

  1. NASCAR
  2. Spelling bees (as much as I enjoy them)
  3. Poker Tournaments
  4. Sports demagogues for analysts/broadcasters (I was going to name names but this about covers it)
  5. Talk shows with the word Damn in them
  6. Diamond-cams and the like
  7. In-game interviews with the managers/coaches/etc
  8. ANY talk show show where decibel level is louder than the street work being done outside.
  9. Dog shows (again, I can enjoy them especially when I watch them with my 9 year old daughter… just please, not on a premier sport network)
  10. Chris Berman, (I lied in #4.)

What’s on your list?

more robot baseball

If Cubs pitchers keep getting hurt, here’s a solution… baseball robots. 

These robots are the creation of a Japanese (of course) professor Masatoshi Ishikawa who is from the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo.

The pitching robot throws at 25 mph and hits the strike zone close to 90% of the time.  Ishikawa hopes to increase the pitch speed to 90mph.  He also wants to introduce the curve ball to the robot.  Hey now, be careful of those arm injuries!

Lucky Ump

MLB Umpire Eric Cooper has had his share of Buehrle’s noteworthy pitching efforts.

How’s this for strange? (Umpire Eric) Cooper has been behind the plate for each of Buehrle’s last three shutouts — the perfect game Thursday, the no-hitter April 18, 2007, at U.S. Cellular Field against the Texas Rangers and a 6-0 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 17, 2005, at the Cell.

Hope Mark Buehrle isn’t superstitious… he might start putting in requests for Cooper for his future starts. 

Buehrle future HOFer?

With Mark Buehrle’s perfect game under his belt now, sportswriters aren’t wasting any time making their case for his eventual induction into the Hall of Fame.

Jon Paul Morosi makes his case.

Ten years down, he’s got 133 wins with a career 3.76 ERA.  But Buehrle does bring a lot more than stats.  He’s got a world championship in his pocket and he’s a consistent winner. The perfect game added on the no-hitter he already had looks real good.  Plus he’s played for one team for his whole career.  For some reason, that looks to the BBWAA. 

It’s too early to tell, of course, but I think if Buehrle stays the course and the Sox continue to get him the wins he needs, I don’t think he should have much trouble.  He’s only 31 years old.  Barring injury or scandal, he’s got plenty of time to boost the numbers he got. 

Leyland shows what he’s got for charity

MLive.com should get an journalistic award or something for managing to use “Jim Leyland” and “Sexy” in the same headline.

The article was in reference to Leyland taking off his shirt to support Tiger OF Curtis Granderson’s charity event called “Passport to the Wines of the World” which supports his Grand Kids Foundation.

Midway through the event was when things got a tad seedy.

(Comedian Jeff) Dye mentioned that Jackson, like Perry, had tattoos. Jackson’s tattoos could only be revealed by removing his shirt, so he asked his manager’s permission.

"You take your shirt off, I’ll take mine off," Leyland yelled from the middle of the room.

Jackson obliged by removing his shirt and showing off his tattooed back and arms. He then demanded his manager keep his word. Leyland came up to the stage and said he would remove his shirt as long as the picture did not end up on TV or in the newspaper.

Thank goodness for that.

Washburn is showing he’s for real

Buehrle/Schmuehrle…Buy stock now in Jarrod Washburn if not too late.  He has done it again. 

Pitching seven shutout innings, Wash has won his fourth in a row and is finally after all these years making a good argument that he is a front row starter. 

With Seattle, he pitched decently in the first half but didn’t get the breaks.  Now things are falling into place for the 6’1” lefty.  He’s only allowed 8 ER in his last 42 2/3 innings spanning six starts.  More importantly for Seattle, he’s won five of those games.

Tonight’s win gives Washburn a .500 record for his career. 

Secondbaseman and the Intentional Walk

Taking a look at the Intentional Base on Balls with a twist.  Here is an all-time top ten list of secondbaseman ranked by most intentional base on balls in a single season.

    1 Ted Sizemore       21 1977
    2 Jose Lind          19 1990
    3 Rod Carew          18 1975
    4 Glenn Hubbard      17 1987
    5 Ron Oester         17 1985
    6 Ron Oester         16 1986
    7 Ted Kubiak         16 1970
    8 Bill Mazeroski     16 1962
    9 Phil Garner        15 1979
   10 Bill Mazeroski     15 1960

Unlike the complete IBB single-season leaders list which is dominated by sluggers (read: Barry Bonds), those on the secondbaseman top ten list do not curry their intentional walks from fear.

Nay, with the exception of Rod Carew, these second sackers, earned their intentional ball-fours because they primarily hit eighth in the lineup on a National League team.  Hitting before the pitcher got them their IBBs.

Phil Garner is an interesting case.  While he played a full season (150 games, 549 AB), Only 60 of his games were dedicated to the 8th spot.  The other lineup spots (2nd, 6th, and 7th) were pretty evenly distributed.  I’m pretty familiar with the 79 Pirates lineup and can’t think of another hitter that a team would walk Garner to get to (SS Foli was a decent hitter).

My only guess was that Garner must have gotten most of his 15 IBB in his 60 games as the 8th place hitter.  Perhaps the Pirates pitchers’ hitting was that poor.

Cubs’ Fukudome finding leadoff spot quite comfortable

Cubs’ beat writer Carrie Muskat tells us what most Cub fans having been thinking for years now…

…put Kosuke Fukudome or more precisely, anyone other than Alfonso Soriano, in the leadoff spot.   In this case, Fuk has fit the bill quite nicely.  In the 11 games he’s led off he’s done what leadoff hitters are supposed to do. 

Fuk is hitting .317 (13 for 48) in the top spot.  More importantly, he’s taking the walk up there, too (6 walks).  Yes, it’s a relatively small sample size but it’s a good trend and a sign that the Cubs management is open to change in the matter. 

Now, finding a spot where Soriano can excel is key.  Soriano is the kind of player who likes consistency… he wants to know he’s penciled in a particular spot every day.  Perhaps that’s why he was so wedded to the leadoff role. 

One more thought on Soriano and regarding Monday’s game.  Give me an 0 for 4 performance and flawless fielding over his 3 hits and his atrocious play in left.  The look on Piniella’s face after Soriano butchered that ball… I see that look on my wife’s face sometimes. 

I hope that Soriano felt the wrath from Lou later.

‘Bored’ Ozzie makes baseball a little more interesting

As a Cub fan, one would expect that I would have a dislike for Ozzie Guillen.  Not necessarily so.  Oh sometimes I can’t stand him.  Other times, he does things that make me stand up and applaud.

Then there are these times when he talks to the press and I just smile:

"I’m always bored," Guillen said. "I’m not playing. You’re sitting around for seven innings. My game starts in the sixth [or] seventh inning. That’s when you see me look around the stands a lot, because you play this game for that many years and coach it and be there for that many years and you’re just managing, it’s a boring game all day for me."

I may not like exactly what Ozzie said but I appreciate the fact that he speaks his mind.  Twenty-nine other managers talk to the press and toe the company line and use pre-approved clichés.  When the media puts a mike in front of Ozzie, he makes baseball a little more interesting for us.

Oh no doubt you’ll here those in the media respond to this.  They’ll recoil in horror and say, “How could he say such a thing?”. 

Let’s face it… to some degree, he’s saying what a lot of the other managers are probably thinking.