So a friend of mine would desperately love to meet Jhonny Peralta. I know that players sometimes will wander about and sign some autographs before hand, but I'm taking her to the game on May 6th which the promotion is "On Field Photo" that day. I'm thinking that this might increase the number of players that are out there, which should help my cause for her. My main question right now is when will be the best time to get there? It's 1:05 start that day and I'm gonna be bugging the shit out of any player out there to get Jhonny's ass out there to meet her.

For anyone that is curious, this is one of the girls that tagged along with me to the BYB Meetup last year. I haven't seen her since then so I'm looking to make this memorable.

So in light of this being a short topic to discuss, what are your strangest ball park tales? I'm talking from little league all the way up to the Majors. We hear about your most memorable baseball moments all the time, but I want to hear the strange ones.

Coaches are some of the hardest people to judge objectively. There really are no coaching stats outside of wins and losses. Coaches can't make players be successful individuals, so their stats have no bearing either. The main focus of a head coach is to create that "winning" atmosphere in the locker room. To make the individuals collect their efforts into a single entity. But even then, those efforts are the composition of the individuals work.

So how can we rate a coach? An even harder question is how can we rate a coach of a team that we knew wouldn't be successful in that win/loss column? Truthfully it is purely subjective. The only good way is to compare/contrast him to other coaches of similar situations and to compare the opinion of the masses.

So we move on to Coach Lawrence Frank. He received a nasty situation right off the bat. His team three seasons previously had been coached by a first time coach in Michael Curry and the previous two seasons by the seasoned Jon Kuester. By most "expert" accounts these coaches didn't create cohesion and lacked a high basketball acumen.

Frank also lost his off season to the NBA lockout. He lost his time to teach his philosophy. To work with his youth more individually. To prove his acumen. Essentially the only thing that he had going his way was the knowledge that at any given moment he could just turn his Moose loose.

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So JV is gonna be hanging with Conan tonight. Figured why not a thread? And if that doesn't work, how about an OT thread for the month? Haven't had one in a while. And if that doesn't work maybe I'll just make a desperate plea for attention from my BYB buddies that I rarely talk to anymore.

Reminder: CoCo airs at 11 p.m. -- that would be right now -- on TBS!

Another Reminder: Hit the "rec" button if you'd like this thread to stay up in the Fanposts.

Promoted because we're big fans of Mr. Poopz -- Kurt

Doug Fister showed up in a Tigers uniform and quickly became a fan favorite. His numbers (despite his W-L) were beautiful, but Dave Dombrowski stole him from the Mariners for a very reasonable price. When he came to the Tigers he went from a bit of an unknown to becoming the Tigers #2 starter. Had Verlander pitched even a bit worse, he probably would've been the ace of the Tigers second half.

Rick Porcello showed up this season about 5 years younger than Doug Fister, but having approximately about the same amount of MLB experience. Porcello didn't get the luxury of much minor league experience. He pitched his first major league game at the age of 20, an age where most kids are going to school and not going to bars.

But despite the difference in experience and age, their games are essentially the same.

Doug Fister

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/13/2011.

Rick Porcello

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/13/2011.

The charts above are ratio charts that give insight into how Fister's and Porcello's pitches end up. We can see consistently that their numbers are not all that different. They induce ground balls, get similar amounts of strike outs, walk at similar rates...but the truth is that in almost all the categories listed above, Fister is the superior pitcher. The differences are slight, but they add up. The only real advantage Porcello has on Fister is that he has a consistently better DP%.

But can marginal differences in these ratio's really create such a difference between the two players? The answer is apparently yes. FIP wise Porcello was at 4.06 and Fister was at 3.02. Quite a difference and some how Doug Fister creates it. So we have two new questions, what is the difference between these two players and what can Rick Porcello do differently to further himself as a MLB pitcher? The exploration after the jump.

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I've been frequenting the BYB commenting boards again and I've seen a lot of talk about pitch counts and the ever lasting debate are they necessary and when should workloads increase?  Well, since I have a fascination with pitching I thought I'd educate myself and share.

The best and most descriptive article on the subject I found at the Hardball Times.

What Pitch Counts Hath Wrought.

For those with out time to read through the article I'll go for a cliffnotes version.

• doing some quick averages in my head modern era greats (Maddux, Schilling, Martinez, Clemens) probably averaged around 45-50,000 pitches for their careers.  Past greats (Ryan, Perry, Lolich, Gibson) threw about 60-70,000 pitches for their careers.  That's a 15-20,000 pitch difference.
• Human Physiology doesn't change enough within a few years to make workload changes necessary.  Pitchers today are just conditioned more to throw fewer pitches.
• Because the very best pitchers no longer apply their trade for as long of a period of time, inferior pitchers take over and can be a partial explanation of the offensive boom that has occurred in the modern era.
• Pitchers get hurt.  They did back then and they still do now.  The rate of injury hasn't changed that much despite the application of pitch counts and five man rotations.

I can say that I honestly agree with the points made.  Pitchers today aren't weaker or physiologically different from their predecessors, they are just conditioned differently.  While todays system won't likely change, I will say that it's a unnecessary system accept at a youth age where the ASMI has concluded that it will reduce arm and shoulder injury amongst youth.

I made a fanshot a week ago noting a very strange release point that Brad Penny has.  I said when I had the time I'd give it a look into, so here I am with the time and Fangraphs wide open.

Let's start with the bare stats.  In 16.1 inning pitched over 3 starts Penny has average 4.45 K/9, 4.45 BB/9, and 1.65 HR/9.  So just looking at those stats right there, it's pretty disheartening.  K's are pretty blah, he's walking too many, and yeah that many home runs is not acceptable.  But continuing on, the HR's are the easiest to diagnose at this point in my search for answers.  Looking at his FB% we can see that it's a good 10 points higher than compared to the rest of his career.

Also of note:  His BABIP is around normal.  Which maybe I'm using the stat wrong, but I'm kinda reading that as luck not being a hindrence here.  Could he get less lucky?  For sure.  But if this is his pitching with average luck, then yeah, may Avila have mercy on our souls.

But moving on means pitch F/X.  =)

So first thing we look at is his pitch distribution.  The first thing to notice is how he basically uses his fastball and his offspeed pitches at an equal rate.  My first rule of pitching is that you gotta establish that fastball.  If you can't then you shouldn't be pitching.  Breaking pitches are designed to confuse a batter and to keep him from sitting on the fastball.  You throw too many and they lose their effectiveness.  The next thing to note is a 2mph drop in fastball velocity.  That's a pretty big drop.

via www.fangraphs.com

Now this is the pic from the fanpost I reference earlier.  This is Penny's release point for the season thus far.  Penny is 6'4" and throws right handed from what I would call a 3/4 arm slot.  What I note about this image is that his release is way to close to center.  Normally it should be a bit more to the left in the image.  But from the video's I could find, he arm doesn't do anything funny in itself.  What I can take a good stab at based on the video's is that he lands on his plant foot too much toward the 3B line, which would make him have to release later, and would also cause some semi-weird contortions that could cause damage after a hundred or so pitches.

Looking at the location charts I see too many fastballs being left in a hitters happy zone.  Probably why he's using the offspeed stuff more often, he's not having any trouble locating his curve ball out of the happy zone.  Unfortunately, that doesn't usually fall in for strikes.

So as a final diagnosis for Brad Penny I would have to say that his problem is entirely his fastball.  Drop in velocity plus an inability to locate makes it hard to survive as a pitcher.  Mechanically, he's been releasing like that his whole career.  Given his injury history, he might want to change that but ya know...old dog, new tricks.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=535&position=P

http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfxg.aspx?playerid=535&position=P&season=2011&date=0&dh=0

http://youtu.be/DJb_hQXSsQo

So it's getting to be that time of the year, ok not really, but I'm already kinda dreading the next April in the D song.  It was suggested to me that I should get working on a song (I think by Garret if memory serves me correctly).  Now I am a musician, and I write instrumental music with no problem, but there are two more problems.  I am not a lyricist and I haven't sang in forever.  Now I can get through the singing thing no problem.  I'll just get my voice going again or bring in a friend of mine to do that part, but I need DBB to help with the lyrics.

Now I'm not promising I'll get anything done towards this, but I think that at any rate that a thread devoted to song writing could go down in DBB history regardless.  And if I do get a start on this I'll of course keep you guys posted and give credit where credit is due when we win.

Now for anyone wanting to take this totally seriously (I mostly expect you guys to have fun with this) I think the rules include using the phrase "April in the D" and probably no obscenities.  Other then that I don't know.  Maybe I'll check.

UPDATE:  As per request, I shall include some music to write too.  This is just a sample of something I've been working on.  http://www.last.fm/music/Some+Sorta+Giant/Untitled+Album/phat+beatz  I just took a bit from my song and looped it for awhile.

I have another idea that I will try to get recorded in the next couple of days that is different stylistically just to give y'all something different to write too.

Phat Beat 2:  http://www.last.fm/music/Some+Sorta+Giant/Untitled+Album/demo  This is the main idea I have for the song.  I think it's catchy enough, not incredibly annoying, and kinda complicated.

Time for another investigation.  Looking over past posts of mine, I discovered that Armando Galarraga has never been a true feature of a post of mine outside of his perfect game and my (probably) unwarranted crush on him.

So thinking to myself about this err in my ways, I searched for something to write about.  We all know what Armando is capable of, having seen him pitch that 2008 season and having to witness the tragedy that became of his perfect game.  I knew I could find a post somewhere in all that.  And I did.

To find out what I'm gonna talk about, keep reading.  (go ahead, I dare you)

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Editor's note - Promoting to the front page for those tired of talking about Phil Coke! -Alli

It was pointed out to me that the Tigers are not a defensively gifted team.  Yes, Jhonny Peralta has good hands, but so did Edgar Renteria.  Problem for both of them is that they have no range so their defensive ability is a little bit deceptive.  This goes well with the post because we are about to get a lesson in deception that works positively for us on the defensive end.  More specifically we're gonna use Rick Porcello as the man we are going to suggest too because well, this team isn't set up for him to be greatly successful in the coming season.

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Great job by our resident mechanics guru. --Kurt

First off, before you start reading this piece on Joaquin Benoit, I suggest you read Matt's piece on him first.

Done reading?  Ok, now I'll start my little (and hastily put together) piece.

Now mechanics are a fun because they are subtle, sometimes they are big.  And sometimes big changes can result in good things.  For Benoit, it seems he made one of those big changes somewhere because I have visual proof of it.

First off we'll look at the Joaquin Benoit of 2008 - 2009.

via i12.photobucket.com

I used a data set from the beginning of April 2008 through the end of September 2009.  I don't think including 2009 did me any good but I did it anyway just in case.  Now what we see here is an incredibly scattered release.  It varies being really high, really low, really left, really right (and not the good kind of right).  Now I'm gonna make a note here, 2008 was Benoit's injury-shortened season that required shoulder surgery.  This data set isn't the greatest but I couldn't get data any earlier.

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These things seemed to work last season in helping to pass the time, and even though this is the most exciting time of the offseason, we aren't watching baseball so it's boring.  The trade talk gets a little old after a bit and my brain goes numb.

I haven't posted around here much lately and I pretty much missed every single gamethread, but I like you guys enough to want to stay somewhat in touch, so I'll break the ice here with a nice solid question...What is everybodies plans for Thanksgiving?

Personally I'll probably be working.  Exciting I know, but can't pass up the holiday pay.  If by some miracle I don't have to work I'll be chowing down at my cousins, probably playing in his recording studio, and basically just catching up with a lot of family members I haven't seen in a long time.

So have at it fellow BYBers.  Mingle and stuff.  Make sure to rec this to keep it at the top of the fanposts!

I was looking at the UZR's of a few Tigers and I had the thought "Can the range of one player effect another and is it reflected in the statistic?"

I know several things about UZR, it's based off zones and that each position on the field has zones that it's responsible for.  What I'm wondering is if it's possible to play into another positions zones and have that help your score under UZR?

To simplify the question:  Is it possible for a 3rd baseman with good range play next to a SS with limited range and have said 3rd basemans UZR score increased due to playing outside of his zone?

I think I know the answer to this really, I'm just wanting some back up opinion so I don't misunderstand a statistic.

This is a controversial fanpost because I am going to put some teams name in this post that is not the Pistons.

Bobcats

also I am not drunk while making this at approximately 2am and am avoiding using contractions to make the minimum word count for posting a fanpost.

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Note from Al: Fan post bumped to the front page, this is good stuff from madpoopz.

Justin Verlander makes what I do easy.  For those of you who don't know, I love pitching.  I love to analyze the motion, the location, the velocity...I love it all.  Thanks to PitchF/X I can discover cool little trends like the one I'm about to show you.

I did an article a while back when Rick Porcello was struggling really bad. I checked in on his arm slot and discussed how it was affecting his location.  What I've done for this particular article is look at Justin Verlander month by month thus far and use some PitchF/X charts courtesy of TexasLeaguers.com to discover an interesting trend.

The first charts I'm going to show you are from the month of April, showing you his release points for the month and a spin movement plus gravity chart.

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So I forgot my camera for the meet-up.  Got it all ready, but left it by the computer.  But I have a shiny new phone, so I got to take some pics with it.  But I didn't get alot and I was gonna just wait for someone else to start a thread but Kurt was all "why don't you start a thread?!" and I was all like "because I'm lazy!"  But my genius showed up and I love to display that, so here's our picture thread/July open thread.  I figure with all the all star game stuff coming up, this might be useful.  Remember to rec this to keep it at the top.

Here's my pics in the link below. I might try to update this with everybody else links too.

MadPoopz cheap pictures.

SabreRoseTiger's Mud Hens pics

SabreRoseTiger's Tigers Pics

Mr.Sunshines pics

DetroitChik's pics

Allikazoo's pics

Dear Armando,

I write this to thank you for what you allowed not only myself, but a nation of fans to witness.  Perfection is something we strive for in our everyday lives, but never achieve.  You my friend achieved it.

Unfortunately, perfection shall not be recorded into history, and only those lucky enough to see it will remember it for what it was, perfection.  History will remember this game as a one hitter, a blown call, or even something positive like the milestone that brought replay to baseball.  But that's not what it should be remembered as.

So I write this to thank you for allowing me to witness more than a perfect game Armando.  I write this to thank you for allowing me to witness perfect sportsmanship, on the field and off.  This is an era of underhanded tricks, performance enhancing drugs, and personal attacks through the media.  Nobody would have blamed you if you shouted at Jim Joyce, or spewed obscenities to the media.  But you did none of that.

You took something that was made imperfect and once again made it perfect.  Not with your actions on the field, but with your actions off of it.

I, as a Tigers fan, am proud to see you wear that Olde English D Armando.  Your actions last night have forever made you a Tiger.

Thank you Armando,

Matt Hofmann