The Baseball Zealot

Dontrelle Willis just won against the Reds today. This puts him at 4-0 this year with a 1.50 ERA. He seems to be turning things around from last season when he had a somewhat lackluster year (10-11, 4.02).

Willis and Josh Beckett have 7 of the Marlins’ 11 wins this year.

Here’s a piece by Sox fan Teddy Ballgame. He’s full of opinions and fancies himself an undiscovered sports columnist. You will most likely be seeing more postings by him on The Baseball Zealot in the future.

WHITE SOX vs CUBS, NO BRAINER

Why didn’t I say it sooner? Well I did, but was anybody listening? The White Sox are better than the Cubs. Not only are they better than the Cubs, the White Sox are a very good ball club. People are always saying, “put your money where your mouth is”, well I did. Before this season started I was seeking out obnoxious, cocky Cub fans looking to bet $1.00 a game that the Sox would have a better record than the Cubs. I also placed a bet that the White Sox would win more than they lost this year. In fact I was so confident about this White Sox team that I placed a small wager on them winning the American League pennant. All of these bets were made with the same confidence that existed one year ago when I made some Las Vegas money on the St. Louis Cardinals winning the National League pennant.

I know it’s early in the year and it’s doubtful the White Sox will keep up their 13-4 start throughout the season. But what did I see in this year’s Sox team that so many “experts” didn’t. All the experts talked about was Ozzie Guillen and “small ball”. Last year’s White Sox team hit 235 home runs and it got them nowhere. So they gave up some power losing Magglio Ordonez, Jose Valentin, & Carlos Lee. But it’s not about small ball, it’s about a team addressing every offseason need. This year’s White Sox team improved their defense (middle infield & outfield), got a leadoff man, a #2 hitter, improved their righty/lefty lineup balance (they had too many righty hitters one year ago), picked up some bullpen help, and acquired a 5th starter.

Was it all about being a Cub hater that made me so confident the White Sox would have a better record than the Cubs? Not at all! It was all about the facts and teams addressing/not addressing their needs. The Cubs are a much worse team than they were one year ago. They did nothing to address their off season needs. They came into this season with the weakest middle infield defense in baseball (Nomar Garciaparra & Todd Walker), no leadoff man, lost power in LF & RF, didn’t get a closer, lost a starting pitcher (Matt Clement), and weakened their middle relief (Kyle Farnsworth threw thirty 100 mph pitches, all other NL pitchers threw four 100 mph pitches last year).

Also there’s a perception that Ozzie Guillen is a goofball manager while Dusty Baker is a baseball guru. That’s not however how I see it. Dusty Baker has consistently not stepped up and accepted responsibility for losing control of his ballclub. Baker has instead blamed the media and “problem” ballplayers. This is the same manager who almost had his child involved in a serious home plate collision when he was with the Giants. It’s all been about talent. Ozzie Guillen has his type of ballclub this season and we’re all seeing what he can do. Guillen has been entertaining with his media interaction. He has the White Sox winning & playing loose.

Maybe it’s a little early for me to count my money, but right now I like my chances. The one thing a team can bring to the field day in and day out is speed & defense. Speed & defense don’t go into slumps and they win games every day.

Teddy Ballgame

We’ve had some DNS issues with our server so our site has been pretty static for a day or so. It’s taken a while for DNS to propagate but I think we’re up to speed now.

David Pinto notes in a post on Baseball Musings that he notices the sort of over-managing in regards to righty-lefty matchups (much obliged for the plug btw, David).

Let’s not also forget it goes both ways. Do hitters sometimes maintain their switch hitting status to their detriment? Do natural lefties who have “taught” themselves to become switch hitters actually do themseves a disservice?

Not Jose Valentin. Not anymore at least. He was a switch hitter. Let’s take a look at his 2002 split stats (BA, OBP, SLG):
As righty: .152, 204, .261
As lefty: .259, .322, .502

In 2003, the difference became more pronounced,
righty: .131, .190, .196
lefty: .265, .345, .535

Jose finally came to the realization that hitting as a righty against left handed pitching when these are the kind of stats you put up wasn’t doing anyone any favors.

So in 2004, Jose renounced his switch hitting ways. He batted exclusively from the left side. While he batted only .216, he did hit 30 homeruns. His .216 batting average may have been due to an adjustment or quite simply, he may have had a down year. I vote for the latter.

What Jose does in 2005 remains to be seen. He has batted from the right side 5 times so far so he may be going back to old ways.

Al from Bleed Cubbie Blue has a good article about the importance of not upsetting the rhythm of a good game being pitched and de-emphasizes the importance of the righty-lefty matchup.

He uses today’s Cubs-Cards game as a prime example of managerial meddling. Take a look at it. It’s a good read.

My kids and I settled down to watch the Cubs-Cards game on TV Thursday night. My son, wearing his Cubs t-shirt, surprises me with a new revelation.

“Daddy, I’m rooting for the Cardinals.”

Now, our family is a Cubs household and always has been. Where in the world this came from, I had no idea.

“But honey, I thought you were a Cub fan. We always root for the Cubs!

“Dad, I’m rooting for the Cardinals because they have the best player of all time, Albert Pujols.”

Dang.