SB Nation User Blog: SleepyCA

This is so fun... Albert and Luddy better step it up a bit ;)

SleepyCA — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:51:48 -0000

This is so fun...

Albert and Luddy better step it up a bit ;)

Matt Kemp fouls off something like 35 pitches, single-handedly forcing the May 23rd game against...

SleepyCA — Sat, 24 May 2008 20:28:09 -0000

Matt Kemp fouls off something like 35 pitches, single-handedly forcing the May 23rd game against the Dodgers into a rain delay. An hour and 15 minutes later, Franklin strikes out Andruw Jones to finish the game.

I was wandering around AT&T stadium taking pictures of the view from each section when Pujols hit...

SleepyCA — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:27:31 -0000

I was wandering around AT&T stadium taking pictures of the view from each section when Pujols hit his home run tonight, and I got incredibly lucky- I had just stepped up to the left field bleacher railing when he hit it, and it was coming right at me. Somehow I managed to photograph the ball in flight (I had totally lost it in the lights, but the camera saw it!).

Should have a bunch more pocket-fuji quality pictures in that album as soon as picassa works again... ATT park is incredibly beautiful.

"Redbirds' doghouse"

SleepyCA — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 04:28:31 -0000

So being bored with rooting against the reds in their long drawn-out affair in Arizona (is it really only in the 10th?), and deciding to google for a "John Rodriguez Memphis redbirds" protest jersey to wear to the games in SD/LA next month, I came across this nice little article:

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/redbirds/article/0,2673,MCA_22116_5471866,00.html

The (memphis) Redbirds made their first personnel move of the season Saturday, optioning Karl the miniature English bulldog back to pitcher Randy Keisler's apartment.
...
Keisler said it was suggested that St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wouldn't allow a dog in the clubhouse at Busch Stadium, so it shouldn't be any different here. But Keisler said La Russa, a noted animal rights activist, welcomed Karl into the clubhouse during spring training in Jupiter, Fla.

Ah, well, I was in a good mood after tonight's historic victory, and it was too cute not to post, esp with kiesler being tonight's hero and all... Wonder if TLR let him bring it to Pittsburgh?

amaury marti update

SleepyCA — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 07:32:03 -0000

I don't have the energy or inclination to do a bunch of research etc, but check out this line for Amaury Marti so far in the AFl:

OBP .486/SLG .848/OPS 1.334

vs left handers. 33 AB, so granted, it's a small small sample size, and he is a geezer amongst babes, but he seems like a perfect platoon partner for lil dunc... and we control him for the rest of his career for basically free.

Overall, he's .378 OBP/.571 SLG/.949 OPS.

Has anyone actually watched him play? How is he in the OF? Anyone have his L/R splits from this past season? I know his overall numbers weren't good, but he's righty and we only need him to hit well against lefties, and MiLB.com only has the most recent team stats.

At the very least it's nice to see him tearing up the AFL...

some links:
mlb article
marti AFL stats

World Series "Signature Moment"

SleepyCA — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 01:35:30 -0000

By now I think that everyone has probably read Brian Gunn's excellent article over at the hardball times. If you haven't, go read it! It's great. However, I don't agree with one of his assessments.

From the article:

This should have been a great Series. You had two classic franchises who had hooked up in October twice before, both teams a study in contrasts.

{snip}

So this should have been a true Fall Classic, featuring teams with wildly clashing backgrounds and playing styles.

Can't argue with that ;)

Instead, the Series was kind of a dud. Not for me personally--I'm a huge Cardinals fan, so I had the time of my life--but objectively speaking, it wasn't exactly a repeat of '86 or '75 or '91. There was incredibly sloppy play, the depressing controversy surrounding Kenny Rogers' sticky hands, two teams who were perceived as mediocrities, dismal ratings, a rainout, mental errors galore, and it was all over in five games. After Game 4, Jim Rome declared it the worst World Series ever. Come to think of it, maybe most people were glad it was over in five games.

Acknowledged- those things did occur.

Think of it this way ... Pretty much every World Series can be distilled into one signature moment--2001: Gonzo's nubber floating past Jeter's outstretched glove; 1993: Joe Carter leaping around the bases; 1988: Kirk Gibson hobbling past a stunned Dennis Eckersley. So what was the signature moment of this World Series? Probably Curtis Granderson somersaulting out on the wet outfield grass, which set the stage for a Cardinals rally in the late innings of Game 4. Pretty it was not.

Here's where I dissent. I believe there WAS a single defining moment of the 2006 world series, and I don't think it had anything to do with errors made by pitchers or slime dripping from a cheater's hand. It happened early in the series, and it made all the difference to the teams confidence and to the outcome of the series.

Leading up to Game 1, all the wisdom in the world said that Detroit was obviously going to win; all they had to do was "keep a straight face" long enough to finish us off. No one believed we had a chance, and if Detroit had won game 1, I think that would have been true. The script was written; it was just a matter of playing it out. Half of the sportswriters in America had the story mailed in before the series began, anyway, and no matter what the players say in press conferences, they would have been fools to go into the series with high expectations.

Detroit jumping off to an early lead wasn't surprising to anyone.

Then Rolen homered to tie it up. That WAS a surprise, since according to the script, Rolen is the broken slugger who was taking this October off. It happens; shake it off; the Tigers will come back, right? With Verlander on the mound, all they have to do is score some runs and our poor inferior NL line-up won't stand a chance. But they didn't; the Tigers went down 1-2-3 in their half of the inning, and Reyes only needed 7 pitches to do it.

Yadi, worst hitter in the NL, a man whom conventional wisdom calls an automatic out, singled to lead off the third- giving hope. Then old man Tags swung a bunt, and mvp-in-the-making Eckstein struck out looking. The rookie 1B-turned-awful-OF, who looked terrible in his first at-bat, could easily have followed suit- stranding the big man in the on-deck circle once again, giving the momentum right back to the tigers.

Instead Duncan doubled, drilling the ball just inside the line at first base, driving in Molina from second to give us our first World Series lead in Forever. And then, to make sure the point was properly hammered home, Albert Pujols (who was humiliated in the first inning) crushed the very next pitch deep into the right field bleachers. 4-1 STL, and the script goes out the window.

It all happened so fast- that look of wild, maniacal joy on Duncan's mangy-beard face, that beautiful swing by pujols, the slumped shoulders of Justin Verlander- the suddenly silent stadium in Detroit- these things told the Cardinals and the world that the NL could, indeed, win this thing. At the very least, the 2006 Cardinals were going to play a hard nine and make Detroit beat them.

That is what I will always remember when I think of the 2006 WS.

Crowd Noise@Busch III

SleepyCA — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:14:16 -0000

There have been several comments lately about crowd noise being sub-par and that this brings the team down (or fails to unsettle the opponent, which is the same thing). Various theories have been posed, from the basic "new stadium lets the noise out" to my favorite "corporate hacks, who are the only ones who can afford/acquire tickets, and who are only there to show off, don't cheer loudly". J-rod noticed this and posted on his blog about it:

http://johnrodriguez.mlblogs.com/johnrodriguez/2006/10/supp_was_on.html

I do just want to say one thing to the fans, though. I want to hear all of you just a little bit more. We heard them, but not quite as much. I want to hear them a little bit louder tomorrow. I want that red sea to come out. Everybody wear red T-shirts, red sweatshirts, red jackets, whatever. Just bring it all out tomorrow.

I'd like to propose one more - the ushers in the new stadium are jerks. Check out this comment from j-rod's blog:

J-Rod, We are trying to cheer loud but fans and ushers are telling us to sit down and be quiet. I'm not talking about profanities either. For example, my friend stood up and cheered "lets go redbirds" and the ladies behind him told him to sit down because they couldn't see! Also, a women called into to KMOX radio and said she was told she could only cheer when the rest of the fans were cheering or she would be asked to leave. THIS MAKES ME WANT TO STAND THE ENTIRE GAME AND CHEER AS LOUD AS I CAN! GO CARDS!!!!!

http://johnrodriguez.mlblogs.com/johnrodriguez/2006/10/time_to_move_on.html#comments

Is anyone who has been to a game lately able to confirm this? It seems realistic, based on the behavior of the ushers at the one game I was able to get to this summer. I've been to 5 other games in 3 other cities this year and none of the ushers in those towns were even close to being as overbearing and obnoxious as the ones at Busch3. I had my ticket checked 3 different times, was told I could not stand in front of my chair at the railing, that I had to sit down, etc.

I don't know if this is really something that has been happening, but I hate to lay blame on the fans when something out of their control is keeping them down.

Mulder should be #4

SleepyCA — Thu, 23 Mar 2006 22:33:28 -0000

Anyone who paid attention last season heard at least something about Mulder's aversion to the sun. How bad was it though, really?

Last year his era was almost 7 in the day, but just over 2 at night, and he gave up more earned runs (47) in just 11 daytime starts/61 daytime IP than he did in 21 night starts and 143.1 IP (36 ER). 5 of his 8 losses came at night, and he only won 2 games all season in the day- and one was against the Astros w/Clemens on the mound in April, which should really only count as half a win, or at least get an asterik. That game was a 10 inning shutout, so although it demonstrates that the potential exists for him to pitch well in the daytime, if you remove that single game his daytime numbers will look much, much worse- it leaves him with an ERA of well over 9!

In his other daytime win last season the offense gave him 6 runs, and he still barely pulled it out, winning 6-5 with 3 scoreless innings of support from the bullpen.

Assuming that last years splits weren't some kind of anomoly, this year could be a bad year for him at #2. I did a quick season breakdown, and assuming that all 5 starting pitchers stay healthy and pitch every fifth game, with no funny stuff, here's how it looks:

#1 day 11
#1 night 22

#2 day 14
#2 night 19

#3 day 10
#3 night 22

#4 day 9
#4 night 23

#5 day 15
#5 night 17

I defined "night games" as those starting as 6PM local time or later.

The worst case is #5, with almost the same number of daytime games as night time games; second worst case is at the #2 spot. But, if Larussa defies conventional wisdom and starts his classic #2 guy in the 4th spot, Mulder would only have to wake up early 9 times this year. He could easily be a 20 game winner as our #4, with 23 night time starts, and if he maintains his 2.26 night time era he could possibly give carp a run for his money for the '06 Cy Young.

Slightly less advantageous would be to pitch him in the #1 or #3 slots. He'd lose a single start in any slot but #1 or #2, but that may very well be a good thing.