Category: Baseball Blogs and Web Sites

Baseball Prospectus used Diamond Mind to simulate a seven game series between the Chicago White Sox and the Chiba Lotte Marines, Bobby Valentine’s champion of the Japanese League. The Sox won in 5 games. Sorry, Bobby. The series recap will be posted on the Baseball Prospectus site on Thursday.

Series preview
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4
Game 5

Bill Ferris has a new blog, Baseblogging, which is billed as a “resource for sports and baseball bloggers”.  If it lives up to its goal, it has a lot of potential.  Its audience is meant to be those who blog about baseball.  The idea is to provide resources, ideas, and techniques to become better baseball bloggers.

As with any blog, the longer it exists and more it used, the more useful it will become. 

Check out Bill’s interview of Dave Pinto (of Baseball Musings fame).

Bob Torba Jr. is a self-described “baseball card-aholic”.  His Funny and Strange Trading Cards web page is full of the strange, funny, and off-the-wall baseball cards that have been published throughout the last few decades.  A few of cards I recognize (or have heard about).  Others were totally new to me.  Like this 1994 Fleer Ozzie Smith card:

the Wizard, indeed.

Anyway, take a gander at his site.  It’s good for a smile.

My friend DonS has always said he had no use for Tim McCarver as an announcer.  This was made evident during the 2005 All-Star Game, he said, when he made 3 gaffes in the space of the first 2 innings. 

I must admit I never thought of it before.  But dang it, he’s right.  Just tonight, his over-sentimentalization (if that’s a word), tendency to state the obvious, and inaccuracies (read: mistakes) are a bit much to take. 

Just tonight, Tim mentioned that Dave LaRoche hit a grand slam in the Houston-Atlanta game on Sunday.  A moment later, no doubt after someone whispered in his ear, he mentioned that no, Dave LaRoche was his father.  It was Adam LaRoche. 

Turns out that DonS isn’t alone.  Others don’t like McCarver either.  And some have web pages expressing their dislike.

Like ShutUpTimMcCarver.com who have an amusing list of McCarver gaffes he’s made in the last couple years.  You can submit your own if you care.

There’s also The I Hate Tim McCarver Home Page whose author has a quite a lengthy diatribe on why he hates McCarver.  It does include a funny drinking game if you are so disposed:

 ”The McCarver Drinking Game
Here’s how to play:
Get a bottle of your favorite booze and a shot glass and…
1: Drink every time Tim uses a multi-syllable word incorrectly.
2: Drink every time Tim states the obvious like it is a profound insight.
3: Drink every time Tim calls the play wrong.
4: Drink every time Tim gets a player’s name wrong.
5: Drink every time one of Tim’s inane comments is met with stoney silence by the other broadcasters in the booth.
My guarantee is you’ll be drunk by the bottom of the 1st inning! “

 

Is Tim McCarver that bad?  Not if the volume is on zero.

 

 

 

 

Lately, it seems the only teams the Angels can beat are the Devil Rays and the Sox.  Matt Welch from mattwelch.com holds Mike Scioscia’s decisions to stick with unproductive veterans in the lineup partially responsible.  Two examples:  Steve Finley and Darin Erstad:

The other week, Angels manager Mike Scioscia could stand his team’s crappy offense no more, with the A’s threatening to run away with the division, so he finally removed the execrable Steve Finley from the starting lineup. The team eventually rallied a bit, regained ground from the A’s, and even finally scored some runs during a three-game sweep of the playoff-bound Chicago White Sox. Finley got back in the lineup and had a couple of hits. Scioscia, forgetting the poison that was choking him three weeks ago, put the spike back into his own neck, reinsterting Finley into the everyday lineup.

Meanwhile he stood behind another recent curious move: batting Darin Erstad — who has not slugged higher than .400 once in the last five years — fifth in the order, just behind reigning MVP Vladimir Guerrero. Erstad, Scioscia’s favorite player, is a hard-nosed gamer, brilliant defender at three positions … and consistently one of the worst-hitting first basemen in all of baseball.

I’ve always liked Erstad but have come to realize he doesn’t produce like he used to and well, the stats don’t lie.  As for Finley, this year has been a wash for him.  Hitting .218 with 10 homers this year, one wonders if his age (he turned 40 this year) is catching up to him.

But the bigger question here is whether Scioscia is mismanaging by playing favorites with his veterans.  I’m not one to go ’round second-guessing managers especially ones who have had post-season success but Welch’s article is food for thought.

Hat tip to Baseball Musings for the link, btw.

Comments?

 

There’s a poll over at Bleed Cubbie Blue (a pretty cool Cub blog if you haven’t checked it out yet).  Anyway, the question is:

Who is your LEAST favorite active ex-Cub? 

Guess who is ahead in the polls?

It’s probably no surprise but Sammy Sosa is currently leading with 22% of the vote.

We’re all entitled to our opinions but I wonder if those who voted for Sammy would be willing to take back his 545 homers and 1414 rbis in a Cub uniform.

Just askin’.

Roto Authority Fantasy Baseball is a new blog out there geared toward fantasy baseball owners interested player news, trade rumors and the like.  It’s brand new but from I see, the articles are well-researched and insightful.

Check it out.

I have enough friends who are Cardinals fans that they might appreciate Viva El Birdos.  It’s a Cardinals baseball blog that gets updated daily and the author has that kind of sense of humor that I can appreciate reading it.

I’m adding it to the blogroll.

Even with all the baseball information out there on the Internet, sometimes I like nothing more than to curl up in bed with a good baseball book.  However, finding the right book isn’t always easy.

Now we have baseballbooks.net.  Brought to you by the same people who gave the wonderful resource that is Baseball Reference, this site categorizes books and DVDs by topic.  It also lists the current top selling books, upcoming books, an editor’s choice list.  Of course you can perform searches based on author, keywords, and title.  Other features include reviews and a baseball book blog.

Next time you’re in the mood for a good read, check it out.

 

There’s a new blog covering the gamut of MLB. Check out A Baseball Fiend. He’s not afraid to tell it the way is.

Definitely worth a look.