SB Nation User Blog: Verka Serduchka

Kids To Baseball Bats

Verka Serduchka — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:48:31 -0000

It has been a particularly complicated year. Checking the date of my last fanpost, it strikes me that the world has made quite a few rotations in its annual slow-steady progression around the sun since I last shared anything signficant on this site. It is interesting to how the blog community works; I still read this page everyday, follow the team, and more or less keep up with the conversations on the site, but once you slip out of the conversation it can be challening to wiggle back in again.

And a lot has happened in those eight months since I watched Voltron take down the Cisco Kid (destructor), slightly inebriated on a noisy corner in this chaotic and complex city of Santo Domingo. We inaugurated the first black president of our occasionaly United States, and this president has more or less (but probably more) stayed the Bush course. We are still dropping bombs on citizens in the mid-East and we are still bailing out banks while the unemployment lines grumble and swell.

Opening day found me at a leadership training in Colombia for an international peace education summer camp organization. In between sessions I would sneak in my headphones and check up on our Redlegs. The night of our first rainout was a Friday night. I remember that night because I cannot forget it. I cannot forget it because somewhere between the time the Earth turned away from the Sun in the evening and turned back again in the morning I had fallen in love. We don't speak much about love on sports blogs, but I have a growing history of speaking about things on sports blogs that we don't tend to speak much about. Falling in love changes everything, and on that rainy Friday in Cincinnati, that cold and cloudy Friday in Bogota, everything was changed.

The summer came, the Reds went, and it was time to travel. The love that was planted with the rain, sprouted and inched upward. A return trip to Colombia brought flowers. Coming home for the first time in a year, I realized that the only thing different there was me. A road trip to Canada. A reunion in Copenhagen. A summer camp in Sweden. The June/July/August was a blur of memory and imagination, familiar and strange, love and longing.

A month ago, I arrived back in this country of loudness, of baseball, of survival. A country that is teaching me that the only hope we have to seriously improve this place we inhabit and every now and again appreciate, is to get together and collectively change ourselves and our communities, to demand more of our leaders, and lead instead of just making demands. Finding the strength to keep learning here is not always easy, but I see no other way to live with dignity than to organize.

This past week, El Niño Destructor made his major league debut, striking out thunderously. I look forward to his homecoming this winter and will definitely make an effort to get to a game or two with a camera to keep you Reporters abreast of his progress.

K to BB ratio?

Kids to Baseball Bats.

Roar.

Edge of Sports, David Zirin

Verka Serduchka — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:28:39 -0000

Edge of Sports, David Zirin

I wanted to post the link to David Zirin's website were he reports the intersection of sports and politics. Right now he has a really good interview with Alonzo Mourning and also an article about a spontaneous protest against the Israeli invasion of Gaza that erupted at a pro basketball game in Turkey this week. Isreal/Palestine is not ever a simple or pretty discussion, but I am a little surprised that we have been absolutely silent here about the atrocities that have occurred in Gaza recently.

The Wagon Vs. El Niño Destructor

Verka Serduchka — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:23:06 -0000

I have just returned home from my local colmado where I witnessed an interesting moment in the Reds' offseason: The people's wagon, Edinson Vólquez, on the mound against the one and only Niño Destructor, Juan Francisco, during a crucial game in the DR winter league round robin playoffs. The following is a dramatic interpretation of what may or may not have occured within the minds of V-dub and el Niño during thier encounter in the 4th inning of a 2-1 game with one out and Nelson Cruz on third:

(Note: beer was also consumed during this event)

The Wagon: Pues... looks like Nelson cruz just rocked a hanging breaking ball off the wall to knock in a run. Debo no throw the ball belt high in the middle of the plate to good hitters so much.

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. I eat kids for breakfast. Roar.

The Wagon: ¡Eat this! (throws a fastball low and away that Francisco swings at and manages to pop up off the third base line. The third basemen sprints toward the stands in shallow left field and the ball drops just out of his reach)

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. You can't throw your fastball by me. Roar.

The Wagon: ¿Que lo que Niño Destructor? ¿Te gusta another fastball? (throws a fastball, this time belt high but in on the hands. Francisco swings, fighting the pitch off and what seems at first to be a harmless liner foul over the dugout sails deep into the outfield landing in the bullpen less than 15 feet outside of the left field foul pole)

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. ¡Put one of those sobre el plato and we will see what happens! Roar.

The Wagon: Hmmm. Vamos a change it up a bit. If he wants a fastball lets give something different. (throws the classic changeup and Juan is way out and front. He gets a good swing on it but lines it foul well outside of the first base line).

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. No puedes fool me with a change up. I am all over that la proxima time. Roar.

The Wagon: This kid could stand to take a pitch or two. Tal vez if I just throw him garbage I can strike him out sin problema.

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. ! I like to swing! ! Jim Rice never ~~brought me no pheasant~~ took a walk! Roar.

The Wagon: Vamos a ver, entonces. (Throws a breaking ball at the dirt that is completely unhittable. Francisco swings anyway and misses but the ball skirts under the catcher's glove)

Niño Destructor: ¡Coño! Soy el niño destructor and now I have to try and run really rapido to first base. Maybe I shouldn't eat so many chimis en la calle. Roar. (The ball rebounds neatly off the backstop and the catcher scoops and fires to first getting Juan easily)

The Wagon: ¿You dare joder con the wagon of the people? ¿Haven't you seen Slyde's graphs of my stuff? .000 porciento de los batters hit that pitch last year. Ya tú sabes.

Niño Destructor: Soy el niño destructor. You haven't seen the last of me. ¡Nos vemos en Sarasota en Febrero! Roar.

Island Update: Soto to be pitchng coach in baseball classic, Vólquez is is signed up to play

Verka Serduchka — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:34:11 -0000

From the Diaro Libre last Tuesday, November 18:

SANTO DOMINGO. El comité organizador del equipo dominicano que participará en el Clásico Mundial 2009 presentó este lunes a Mario Soto como el nuevo coach de pitcheo de la novena quisqueyana en sustitución de William Castro, quien fue designado en las mismas funciones por los Cerveceros de Milwaukee en Grandes Ligas.

Hablando para los periodistas en presencia del doctor Leonardo Matos Berrido, presidente de Lidom, el gerente general Stanley Javier resaltó que tanto él como Felipe Rojas Alou se sienten muy contentos porque saben el tipo de persona que es Mario Soto.

"Tanto Felipe como yo estamos muy contentos porque conocemos a Mario y sabemos la persona que es", destacó Javier.

Aprovechó para anunciar que fueron integrados, en adición a los ya existentes, nuevos coaches entre los que cuentan Luis Pujols, Luis Silverio, Mariano Duncan, Nelson Silverio y Miguel García. Anteriormente se dieron a conocer los nombres de Alfredo Griffin y Junior Noboa.

Dijo que otros nombres aún no pueden salir a la luz pública debido a que los reglamentos del Clásico así lo impiden, aunque resaltó que jugadores como Robinson Canó, Santiago Casillas, Edinson Vólquez y Aramis Ramírez firmaron el acuerdo de participación.

El recién designado dio las gracias a todos los miembros del comité organizador y de manera especial a Felipe y Stanley, con quienes dijo tener magníficas relaciones.

SANTO DOMING. The organizing committee of the Dominican team that will participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic announced yesterday former pitcher Mario Soto will be their team's pitching coach. Soto will replace William Castro who was recently named the pitching coach of the Milwaukee Brewers. The general manager of the Dominican team, Stanley Javier said that both he and team manager, Felipe Rojas Alou are very content with this selection because the understand the value of Soto.

"Both Felipe and I are very happy because we know Mario well and we know the kind of person he is," said Stanley. Stanley also announced the selection of other new coaches who will join the existing managers, including Luis Pujols, Luis Silverio, Mariano Duncan, Nelsion Silverio, and Miguel García. Alfredo Griffin and Junior Noboa had already been neamed as coaches on the team.

Stanley mentioned that other names of participants still have not been announced to the public due to the rules of the Classic, but he did highlight that players like Robinson Canó, Santiago Casillas Edinson Vólquez, and Aramis Ramiraz have signed up to play.

Soto thanked the organizing committee of the Dominican team, and gave special thanks to Stanley and Alou. Dating back to their years as players, Soto said he has a great relationship with both Stanley and Alou. "I give thanks a everyone who has made it possible for me to replace Castro on the team," said soto. "Everyone is involved the Classic and for that reason the Cincinnati Reds organization didn't have any problem with granting me permission to participate."

Could this be the experience/recognition that Mario Soto needs to become the next Reds' pitching coach? After his work with Vólquez and Cueto, and his general ability to teach his devastating backdoor slider ("puerta atras") shouldn't he be a pitching coach somewhere, preferably with the Reds?

How do we feel about Vólquez participating in the Classic? Weren't a lot of players, especially pitchers, kind of wiped out last time around going straight into the season after the competition?

In other Dominican news, the governement here is trying to push through a a youth emplyment act that is very similar to the law that led to so much unrest in France in 2006. It is a law that basically says that folks between 18-30 who are enterng their first formal job, should have limited rights including the right to be fired without warning or reason, and also are exempt from severence pain. The idea is to stimulate the economy by making young people more exploitable, I mean, hirable.

Here in Justicia Global we are currently working on mobilizing young folks to take action against the law which is now in the senate after gaining approval in the house. Our goal is to use this event as an entrance point for young people into the work of creating a broader, more long term movement towards more fundamental socio-economic change.

Things seem to be getting pretty bad in terms of unemployent in the States. What is the feeling like there these days?

Brandon Marshall's Attempted Political Statement

Verka Serduchka — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:02:52 -0000

Brandon Marshall's Attempted Political Statement

Anyone watch Brandon Marshall's attempted touchdown celebration get called off by his teammates last Thursday? A very interesting moment for sports in light of the 40 year anniversary of the events of the '68 Olympics.

Saber The Moment

Verka Serduchka — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:33:14 -0000

Ok, so I am started to really getting into thinking about what is the best statistical measure of offensive ability.

I realize I had a very mistaken impression of slugging. I thought walks were included, and that slugging measured the average number of bases traveled by the batter with each plate appearance. That, of course, is not slugging at all. Slugging is the average bases traveled with each AB, only taking into account hits.

Which then brought me to why I was thinking wrongly about slugging: it seems like a better measure of offensive ability would be to measure (TB + BB)/(AB + BB) . If I am thinking correctly, this stat would give you the average number of bases a batter travels with each plate appearance on a scale of 0 to 4. Not sure if it already exists with another name, but for the sake of this post, I will call it a batter's "milage."

The challenge to this all seems to me how much to value getting on base and how much to value traveling more bases on average with each plate appearance. For example, a player that hits a home run every ten PA but gets out the other 9 would have a score of .4 on the "milage" scale. Another player, who gets 3 singles and a walk every ten PA, also has a .4 score on the same scale. Which player is better? According to OPS the first player scores .500 (.100 obp + .400 slg) and the second .733 (.400 obp + .333 slg).

Part of me thinks that what matters most is averaging more bases per plate appearance, partly because we know for a fact that the first player scored a run where the second player may or may not have. On the other hand, we know for a fact that the first player only scored one run, where the second player may have scored up to four. Similarly, we know that the first player drove in one run for sure, while the second player may not have driven in anyone. The second player, however, could have driven in up to 7 runners though (3 hits with runners on second and third, and a walk with the bases loaded).

I am actually learning a lot as I write and think about this now, and am starting to see the complexity of measuring individual stats in a team game. This was Bill James' struggle too right with the RC formula?

Speaking of James and RC, I was looking at definitions of Runs Created and not quite understanding why basic RC, (H + BB)TB/(AB +BB), is calculated the way it is, and not the way that I did "milage" above. Can someone explain that or point me towards a good simple explanation of the RC stat?

This is me diving head first into this world so please excuse the obvious ignorances to the history of a lot of these things. I probably should just read that book, what's it called? Money Ball?

I also make no claims at doing math well. I studied peace in college.

Are You Watching This Soccer Match?

Verka Serduchka — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:10:01 -0000

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.

Golaso. Goooooooooooooooooooooool. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol.Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Gol. Goooooooooool.

Turkey 1, Germany 0.

An attempt at starting an open thread.

Island Update- Vólquez en route for Cy Young

Verka Serduchka — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:15:58 -0000

I have been in the Cincinnati for a few weeks now and the weather here has been incredible. I have enjoyed seeing the family, and friends, and have spent many evenings playing soccer late into the night with random folks at UC.

In other big new for me, I just had the letter I wrote to Naomi Klein published in online journal. I spoke a bit about this in one of our earlier conversations about sabremetrics and the global economy. You can find the letter here, with an introduction from the Director of the Peace Education Center at Columbia University, Betty Reardon, here.

Not to steal the Turtle's thunder about big news from the Dominican Republic, but I saw this in Hoy online this morning. We are getting to a point with Volquez , knock on madero, where this is not a stretch at all:

Vólquez en ruta para el Cy Young
El dominicano es favorito. El abridor de los Rojos de Cincinnati, Edinson Vólquez ha tenido un gran desempeño en la temporada del 2008 y es el principal candidato al premio Cy Young
Escrito por: DIONISIO SOLDEVILA
d.soldevila@hoy.com.do
Llegando ya casi a la mitad de la temporada del 2008, podría comenzarse a hablar de proyecciones.

Y no solo de lo que serían números individuales sino también para los posibles premios a repartirse en las diferentes ligas.

Y para el Cy Young de la Liga Nacional aparece el nombre de un hombre que hasta el momento ha logrado asombrar por la perfección que ha registrado en el montículo jornada tras jornada.

Ese es el derecho dominicano Edinson Vólquez, quien lanzando con los Rojos de Cincinnati ha presentado unas credenciales de un peso específico tal que ha llenado los ojos de todo el mundo del béisbol.

Y lo más grande de todo es que en la actualidad, domina dos de las tres categorías que son tomadas en consideración para la Triple Corona de pitcheo.

Con una efectividad de 1.71 carreras limpias por cada nueve entradas, Vólquez supera por casi una carrera completa (0.83) a su más cercano rival en dicho encasillado, que es Tim Lincecum, de los Gigantes de San Francisco.

Igualmente, Vólquez encabeza la Liga Nacional en hombres abanicados, con 110, también superando a Lincecum, siete ponches.

Su labor con los decepcionantes Rojos de Cincinnati ha sido uno de los pocos puntos luminosos que ha tenido la organización de la División Central en el viejo circuito del béisbol de las mayores.

De hecho, cabe señalar que de los 35 triunfos que han conseguido los Rojos este año, 10 de ellos han sido conseguidos por el lanzador que lleva el apodo de “Pequeño Pedro” por el aprecio que profesa hacia el tres veces ganador del premio Cy Young, Pedro Martínez, hoy de los Mets de Nueva York.

Y aunque tiene rivales con nombres de mucho peso como el ya ganador del Cy Young, Brandon Webb, el caso del mismo Lincecum y también del venezolano Johan Santana, Vólquez tiene buenas probabilidades de unirse a su ídolo y compatriota Martínez como los únicos quisqueyanos en toda la historia en conquistar un premio Cy Young, algo que no es nada fácil y muy valioso.

Las claves

1. Mejor efectividad

Edinson Vólquez encabeza la Liga Nacional en efectividad con un promedio de 1.71.

2. Mejor en ponches

Con 110 rivales abanicados, Vólquez encabeza el viejo circuito en esta categoría de poder.

3. Duro en victorias

Solo Brandon Webb (11) supera en triunfos en lo que va del año al dominicano Vólquez, quien tiene posibilidades de repuntar.

4. Rivales fuertes

Vólquez tiene rivales de calidad en la competencia por el premio, pero a pesar de ello sus números se imponen hasta el momento.

5. Salidas de calidad

Vólquez ha sido el abridor que más aperturas de calidad ha registrado en la temporada. De hecho, todas sus salidas lo han sido.

Brandon Webb

El abridor de los Diamondbacks es líder de triunfos, con 11.

Tim Lincecum

Segundo en efectividad (2.54) y ponches (103) en la Nacional.

Johan Santana

Tiene 7-5 y 3.04 de efectividad, pero ha sido sólido.

Ryan Dempster

Tiene 9-2 y 2.63 de efectividad y sus Cubs están en la cima.

Ben Sheets

Apenas una derrota, con ocho triunfos y 2.74 de efectividad.

Carlos Zambrano

Suma 8-3 y 3.13 con los líderes de la División Central.

Tim Hudson

Acumula 8-5 y 2.96 de efectividad en lo que va de año.

Now the English:

Vólquez en route for Cy Young

The Dominican is the favorite. The Reds’ starter, Edinson Vólquez has performed very well in the 2008 season and is the principal candidate for the Cy Young award.

Written by: Dionisio Soldevila d.soldevila@hoy.com.do

Arriving at almost the halfway point of the 2008 season, we can begin to speak about projections.

And not just about individual numbers but also about the possible awards that are given in the different leagues.

With regards to the Cy Young award in the National League, a person's name pops up whose perfection on the mound start after start has been amazing.

He is the right handed Dominican, Edinson Vólquez, who, pitching with the Cincinnati Reds, has presented credentials so weighty that he has caught the attention of the entire baseball world.

Most importantly, he currently leads two of the three categories that of the pitching Triple Crown.

With and ERA of 1.71 for every nine innings, Vólquez leads his closest rival, Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants, by almost an entire earned run (.81)

Similarly, Vólquez leads the National League in strike outs with 110, also better than Lincecum by seven.

His work with the disappointing Reds has been one of the few bright spots that this organization in the Central Division has had this major league season.

In fact, it should be a sign that of the 35 wins the Reds have this year, 10 have been made by the pitcher who goes by the name “Little Pedro” due to his admiration for the 3 time Cy Young award winner, Pedro Martínez, who now plays for the New York Mets.

And even though he has rivals with bigger names than him like the Cy Young winner, Brandon Webb, or Lincecum, or the Venezuelan Johan Santana, he has a good chance of uniting with his idol and fellow countryman, Martínez, as the only Dominicans in all of history to win a Cy Young, something not easy and very valiant.

Key Points

1. Lowest ERA

Vólquez leads the National league with an ERA of 1.71.

2. Most Strike Outs

With 110 punch outs, Vólquez leads the major leagues.

3. Strong In Games Won

Only Brandon Webb (11) is better in number of wins, but the way the year is going, Vólquez has a shot at passing him

4. Strong Competition

Vólquez is competing with quality rivals for the award, but up to now his overall numbers are better than them all.

5. Quality Starts

Vólquez has been the starter with the most quality starts this season. In fact, all of his starts have been quality starts.

Brandon Webb

The Diamondbacks starter is the leader in wins with 11.

Tim Lincecum

Second in ERA (2.54) and strikeouts (103) in the National League.

Johan Santana

7-5 with a 3.04 ERA, but has been solid.

Ryan Dempster

Is 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA and his Cubs are in first place.

Ben Sheets

Just one loss with eight victories and a 2.74 ERA.

Carlos Zambrano

8-3 record and a 3.13 ERA with the division leading cubs.

Tim Hudson

8-5 on the year with a 2.96 ERA.

Home

Verka Serduchka — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:08:17 -0000

On Wednesday I started my trek from Santo Domingo back to Cincinnati. I flew through Miami into Richmond, VA where a friend came down from DC (yup, BDuk the friend with the sweet potato butter who knows Ben Olsen) to pick me up. I had a chance to catch up with him for a day and a half and watch a little bit of the Euro 2008. Who'da thunk- Croatia and Turkey...

My family swung through DC to pick me up and we headed to Norfolk Virginia to the wedding of my sister. I say sister not in the traditional sense; this was a student of my mom's at Woodward high school who's family was still Nigeria and was not doing well living with an uncle here in Cincinnati. So one day when I wa about 13, there was another member of our family. Anyway, she got married this past weekend. It was great to be with my entire family again after 6 months apart.

So I am home in CIncinnati for a few weeks after an amazing year of learning to become a community organizer. Learning about the subtle and not so subtle differences between being an "activist," or being "pc," or being an an academic with a "critical" perspective, and being an organizer of people towards radical social change has been a challenging and highly rewarding process- a process that I have tried to share openly with this blog over the past 3 or 4 months as I also tried to give some insight into how the Dominican press was covering our team. Thanks for being open to that, whether or not we always saw eye to eye on the topic at hand.

Finally, I am heading to the game tomorrow with friends and family and was also thinking about going Thursday afternoon at 12:35. Anybody up for a gathering Thursday with Tang on the mound?

Island Update: Baker supports Encarnacion, Soto helps Cueto

Verka Serduchka — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:38:11 -0000

Today, the Listin Diario ran an article based on an interview with Edwin Encarnacion. I am translating from the paper and for some reason there is no link to the article on the net. Some notable quotes follow.

Encarnacion on his relationship with Baker:

"I have never had such good communication with a manager. Baker knows how to motivate me and I hope I can live up to his expectations."

On playing in the Dominican Winter league:

Playing in the Dominican is helpful. We arrive to spring training pretty much ready for the season already. It is a big advantage that we have in our country. I am going to continue playing in the DR because I have matured a lot as a baseball player and it will help me to establish myself in the major leagues.

On his goals for 2008:

My goal is to hit 25 or more home runs, and I know I can do it. I will be working hard not to commit more than 15 errors. These are my two biggest goals. I am very positive that I can reach them, I don't doubt it.

Cueto got some press for his win yesterday too. Nothing too special was said but it did mention that he worked with Mario Soto:

Soto ...se unió al equipo y lo ayudó a componer su cambio de velocidad y a recuperar su confianza, lo cual se mostró de inmediato.

Soto joined the team to help [Cueto] with changing speeds on his pitches and regain his confidence, which was seen immediately.

Life is different, but okay without a computer here. Post-traumatic stress is another story. Every wierd noise or shadow that moves at home gives me a rush of adrenaline. I will be fine, it just takes time.

Looking forward to Harang/Zambrano in the sports bar/gambling establishment a few blocks from my home tonight. Go reds.