Coming to my CC community for a little help. I work for SI Kids and have been assigned to do some research about myths and misnomers in baseball. Some examples: the foul pole is actually fair, the myth of the ground-rule triple at Fenway Park, stuff like that. Just figured that in addition to my work I might toss this out to some other baseball fans and see if your brilliant minds can think of anything I might miss. Suggestions for other sports are also welcome.

Thanks!

Anyone else see this post on Jorge Says No!? They're debating the best free agent signing of this off season and geuss what?

It's Koji!

I love Koji as much as the next guy or gal, but it's interesting how differently you can feel about a player when looking at his numbers as opposed to watching him in games. Koji has had some bad luck with the bullpen and has absolutely kept the team in games.

But I would not necessarily say he's our ace of the future. Frankly, I want a guy who can take those slim leads into the ninth inning. Not someone who looks gassed after 6.

Yesterday during the game thread I had a brief comment-versation about Brian Roberts' recent struggles at the plate. After watching his 0-14 series again the Blue Jays, it seemed pretty reasonable to get worried.

So this morning I decided to check on some of his stats, and honestly, it made me feel better. Going hitless in three games is never EVER going to go unnoticed for a guy like Roberts. But he's not playing like a completely different player.

This season Roberts has seen 125 first pitches. He has swung 26 times, and has three hits. It would be great to see him jump on first pitch fastballs, if that's what he's getting, but he is still taking the first pitch 79.2% of the time.

Plus, his Batting Average on Balls in Play is .330, around what we can usually expect from him. (Last season it was .341 and league average is usually right around .300)

Roberts' ground ball to fly ball ratio is 0.63. Last season it was 1.10.This isn't great, but a lot of it due to his infield fly ball percentage, which is at 15.2% right now. That's double what he will average in a season, so right now his fly ball ratio is inflated and his ground balls are down. This early in the season numbers are still swaying a lot based on just a handful of games, I don't think we're really seeing a major decline in his skills, he just had a rough time in Toronto.

Because he's not a power hitter, we might not think of Roberts as a fly ball guy. But he hits a lot of them. He also hits a lot of ground balls. He makes a lot of contact in general. In 2007, the year of the 50 stolen bases, Roberts percetages were: 19.5% line drives, 35.8% ground balls, and 44.6% fly balls. Then, in 2008, the year of the 51 doubles they were: 23.9% line drives, 40.3% fly balls and 35.8% ground balls. He's jumped back and forth a lot over his career, while still maintaining a high batting average and getting a lot of extra base hits.

Roberts is still getting on base (.384 OBP), is walking and striking out at pretty standard rates for him and already has eight doubles. Really, if anything is going to worry us as O's fans, it is Roberts on the base paths. His stolen bases (4) are down, and his times caught stealing are up (3 already compared to 10 in all of 2008). Last April he had 9 steals, and was caught twice and in 2007 he had 8 steals and was caught just once. Hopefully, like those infield flys, this is not a season-long issue.

I'm no stats expert, but I've got way more to worry about than Roberts. That series in Toronto is something I would love to forget, but I think B-Rob is going to be just fine.

Thanks for your help on this. Here is the column. I'm ready for any and all criticism.

http://sikids.com/2008/sifk/writers/sarah_braunstein/05/28/overated/index.htm

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Hey Camden Chatters - I write a weekly baseball column for sikids.com and this week I am doing it on the most overrated active baseball players.

I want to do one at east position.

Just curious who you all think should make the list.

Also, keep in mind that I probably shouldn't just do the entire New York Yankees lineup, even though Joe Girardi pretty much writes this column every time he fills out a card.

Thanks,

Sarah

Everytime I post one of these people always react strongly that it has nothing to do with the Orioles, but this line from the New York Times today made me chuckle.

The Yankees will open interleague play at the Stadium Friday against the Mets and Johan Santana, last year’s A.L. Cy Award winner.

For starters, I'm going to guess that C.C. Sabathia and Cy YOUNG might have something to say about this information.

The Cy award...really?

I really hope that Santana kills the Yankees tonight. If only he were matched up against Ian Kennedy...

Here's the link, though they might fix it.

Thanks to another terrible pitching performance from Mike (traitor) Mussina, the Yankees bullpen will be tired as they head into Baltimore tonight.  But one reliever who did not pitch last night is LaTroy Hawkins.  So far he's made headlines for wearing Paul O'Neill's number 21, and the switching to 22 because he is a total wuss and couldn't handle the booing.  My advice: get used to it because you suck and Yankees fans are relentless jerks.

He had a good performance on Wednesday, but opponents are currently hitting .324 off of him this season.

In his career at OPACY he is:

2-5, 7HR, 74H, 4.28 ERA .276 opponent batting average

I remember feeling uneasy every time LaTroy stepped out of the bullpen for the O's. It was that sinking feeling that whatever state the game was in, it was sure to get worse.  Hughes has struggled so far, so here's hoping we chase him early, and are able to payback Hawkins for all the indigestion he caused for us in 2006.

I would love to see him get smacked around by the Birds!

The guy in the cube next to me at work also happens to be an O's fan, which is kind of rare in NYC.  He had this celebratory video planned because Jay Gibbons was his favorite.  Then the O's cut Gibbons.

But this is pretty funny anyway and I like watching it after the O's win, just to remember that Gibbons' spirit will always be with us

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4jPbeSqtTU

This article from the LA times details Hillary Clinton's quest to get a re-do in the Michigan Primary.

Of note for Orioles fans?

Ten donors to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign offered Wednesday to give Michigan $12 million to hold a rerun of its Democratic primary.

The group includes Los Angeles investor Haim Saban; Fred Eychaner, a Chicago contributor who made his fortune in TV and radio; and three attorneys: Peter G. Angelos, who owns the Baltimore Orioles baseball team; John Eddie Williams Jr. of Houston; and Calvin C. Fayard Jr. of Louisiana.

Read it all here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-michigan20mar20,1,691306.story

A suggestion, but please, make changes.  Third base is kind of up for grabs.

1B: Raffy
2B: B-Rob
3B: Hairston
SS: Miggy
OF: Bigbie
OF: Cust
OF: Matthews
C: Zaun
DH: Gibbles
SP: Mercker
SP: Brown
SP: Bones
RP: Grimsley
RP: The Todd
RP: Holmes

Bench: Alexander, Segui, Laker, Clark

(Seriously, this counts as a one line diary? Sheesh)