Category: Uncategorized

From Sean Forman and Sports Reference, the people behind the incredible baseball reference tool Baseball-Reference.com, comes another endeavor that shows a lot of promise… Baseball Reference Bullpen.

Forman describes BR Bullpen as an “online, collaborative, baseball encyclopedia”.  The BR Bullpen is modeled on Wikipedia, the popular, online encyclopedia. 

It of course, acts as an reference site which you can search or browse for baseball information.  It’s a two-way street, though.  If you find information is lacking, incomplete, or even inaccurate, you can edit the pages of the site and add your (hopefully accurate) information.  Over time, the encyclopedia entries grow with information.

Due to the non-hierarchical style of info gathering, the info you see may not always be accurate.  However, with many others viewing the entries, inaccurate info is usually spotted and corrected quickly.  So a sense of checks and balances is in effect.

I think BR Bullpen has a lot of potential and kudos to Sean Forman for getting this off the ground.

Here is the entry page for Baseball Reference Bullpen

More info on what BR Bullpen is and how it works

As amazing of a season that Roger Clemens has had so far, has any noticed how completely dominating he has been on the road?  He’s allowed 2 ER in 59 innings for an ERA of 0.31. 

Take a look at this Baseball Analysts article which goes in depth.

 

Tom Glavine is pitching tonight for the Mets.  If he gets the win tonight, he will tie Burleigh Grimes for 31st on the all-time list in career wins with 270.  Glavine passed Jim Palmer on the list last week. 

Despite pitching for the Braves and Mets, Tom Glavine has been a favorite pitcher of mine.  I acquired him in a trade in my Illowa APBA League team when he was an unknown prospect for a washed-up Kirk Gibson and “potential” Pete Smith.  Remember Pete Smith? 

Well, Gibson soon retired and Pete Smith hung around long enough to do poorly.  Glavine, of course, was one of the most winningnest pitcher of the nineties.  Some 13 years later, he’s still on my APBA league team as I’ve vowed never to trade him.

Right now, it’s 4-3 Rockies in the 6th but Glavine is still pitching.  I don’t say this very often but Go Mets!

Update:  No win for Glavine tonight.  He was replaced by Santiago with the score 5-3 Rockies.

 

Do you believe in good omens?  Sometimes I do.

I took my daughter out for lunch to a local Chinese joint.  In my fortune cookie was this:

That one’s going to stay in my wallet.

 

Speaking of the Cardinals,  the news came out that Reggie Sanders will be out 4-6 weeks because of a hairline fracture in his right leg as a result of a collision Friday night with Jim Edmonds.

Taking off my Cub hat for just a sec (anything bad for the Cards is good for the Cubs, right? ;-)), I can’t help but feel sympathetic for Sanders.  For years, he’s been a rent-a-player (seven teams in seven years).  Finally, he got a chance to stay with the same team in consecutive years and he rewards them with a fantastic effort.  Up until this point, he’s hit .281 with 18 homers and 44 rbis.

Tough break. 

Word has it, a John Rodriguez will be called up to take Sanders’ spot.  His minor league stats this year are 22 HR, .286, .349, .589. 

His nickname?

J-rod, of course

… and he’s not just putting a sign in his yard.

Barry Zito has pledged $100 for each strikeout to help “provide the comforts of home” for military personnel via his Strikeouts for Troops foundation.  It benefits soldiers recuperating at the Walter Reed, Bethesda Naval, among other military hospitals.  His foundation’s web site is http://www.strikeoutsfortroops.org.

While I certainly don’t support our country’s war in Iraq, I think this is a very worthy cause.  The wounded soldiers need all the help they can get. 

Strike ’em out Barry!

The mysterious banner unfurled over the left field wall with a web address belonged to Chevy.  And according to The Register, Fox Sports broadcasters weren’t as dumb as they sounded as they were in on it.  The whole thing was a ruse to bring attention to the banner and advertse more for Chevy, one of Fox Sports’ biggest advertisers.  Pretty slick.

According to the article:

Hehe, I like the part about Buck devolving into a second grader.  That wouldn’t be a stretch.

That said, I knew they couldn’t be that stupid.

 

 

All-Star Game Summary:

Well, for a while it looked like another AL blowout with the junior circuit leading 7-0 after 6 innings.  The NL did make it interesting by scoring 5 unanswered runs.  AL manager Terry Francona was forced to go against Joe Torre’s wishes and bring in Mariano Rivera for the final out. 

Miguel Tejada won the Ted Williams MVP award by virtue of his 2-run homerun in the second which broke it open for the AL.

So much for the media-fabricated story of LaRussa exacting revenge on Francona.  Red Sox players were 4 for 8 in the game.

Media Matters:

Seems kind of strange to me that they would play the British national anthem but not the Canadian one. 

Ok, they probably did (at least I hope they did… Toronto is still a major league team last I checked) but it wasn’t televised.  The moment of silence was a classy move but I just didn’t understand the anthem thing.  If they wanted to recognize the loss of human life, why not start with the Iraqi national anthem?  Don’t get me started.

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Ok, how many of you thought it was an awkward moment when Fox broadcaster Jeanne Zelasko was trying to (rudely?) interrupt broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell from talking too long during the pre-game interviews?  And how many of you would much rather hear Harwell’s tidbits of baseball history than listen to Fox’s air-brushed video of Smokey Robinson?  I know I would.  Let the man talk.  You might learn something, Jeanne.

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Seems to me that the Fox Sports’ company line was to lighten up on Kenny Rogers.  I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t have played in the game.  It’s not my call.  But it seemed the broadcasters were bending over backwards to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

I just see a double standard when other players who have altercations with fans (usually who provoke the players) are being demonized and this guy plainly attacks two members of the press who don’t over-step their bounds and Kevin Kennedy acts all buddy-buddy with him.  I’m just sayin’.

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Mid-way through the game a banner with a URL on it was unfurled over a billboard at the stadium.  Buck and McCarver brought attention to it but obviously didn’t know that .com meant it was probably a web address.  They spent a minute or two trying to decipher what it could possibly mean.  Do these guys spend any time in front of a computer?

I didn’t write down the url when watching the game.  Did someone catch it?  I’m curious what it was.

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The International Olympic Committee voted to eliminate both softball and baseball as sports for the 2012 London Summer Olympics.  They will have one more chance in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and there is a chance for appeal for reinstatement in 2016. 

This is a bit of a surprise for all concerned at least according to the media.  It’s the first time a sport has been eliminated since 1936 when polo was kicked out. 

Those in American softball circles are feeling a bit miffed feeling that their dominance in the 2004 Olympics may have something to do with it.  The USA team outscored their opponents 51-1 in 2004. 

 Crystl Bustos, who hit a record five homers during the 2004 Olympics, said the one-sidedness of the softball tournament should not have been used as a factor. The Americans outscored opponents 51-1.

“If that did play a role in the decision, then that’s pretty pathetic,” she said. “I don’t mean to cut anybody down, but it’s supposed to be the best of the best, and if you get knocked for your excellence, then that’s just not right.”

Each of the sports were put to secret vote and softball and baseball were the only two that didn’t get a majority vote.

 

Earlier I got on my soapbox and ranted about how Morgan Ensberg deserved a spot on the NL All-Star team.  Well, as it turns out, Scott Rolen has pulled out of the Game to rest his shoulder leaving a spot for Ensberg to fill.

It’s too bad USA Today couldn’t spell Ensberg’s name right.