Happy Birthday Jerry Koosman!!

 

Koosman was underrated IMO. Toiled somewhat in the shadow of Seaver and some of the other phenoms that came through Shea Stadium. That 53.7 WAR doesn't lie. 

The leg drive demonstrated in the picture above almost looks like a LH version of Tom Seaver. No wonder those Miracle Mets were tough. 

from Stathead: 

Thursday, December 23

Born This Day

1942: Jerry Koosman: 53.7 WAR (turns 79)

1978: Victor Martinez: 32.0 WAR (turns 43)

1980: Cody Ross: 13.5 WAR (turns 41)

1983: Hanley Ramirez: 38.0 WAR (turns 38)

1988: Roberto Perez: 7.5 WAR (turns 33)

Royals put the crown on a little early, pay the price

(USA Today)

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/63106348/v36860095

Vargas thinks he took ball four

 10/25/14 | 00:36

10/25/14: Pitcher Jason Vargas thinks he took ball four and makes his way toward first base as his teammates share a laugh

To me, this was the turning point of the game. They Royals start clowning, vision of sugar plums dancing in their heads. The sugar plum being a 3-1 World Series lead, which means we're playing with house money against Bumgarner and go back home no worse than up 3-2 with two games at home to close it out. The Giants are imploding, Vogelsong knocked out, Machi looking knocked up. Why not? 

Only problem is, it's only the third inning and your playing against a former champ. Vargas goes out to the mound all loosey-gooey'd up and begins puking it up, slowly but surely. When you're in a tug of war against an equal opponent and you let up on the pull for even an instant, you can get pulled over the line yourself. IMO, that's what happened to the Royals. They lost the focus that got them in front and it cost them, big time. You can't start your touchdown dance on the 5-yard line and that's what they did. 

Leon Lett Super Bowl XXVII

Of course, Dallas still went on to win 52-17, but Leon Lett still looked like a horse's ass. Speaking of which, it reminded me of another similar moment, that being one Dusty Baker handing the World Series trophy ball to Russ Ortiz, right before the Angels rallied right to the 2002 World Series championship, blowing the doors off the Giants. 

This game was a microcosm of the Giants roller coaster season, within a two or three inning span. They started out looking like a 100-win team, they were on that pace, then the injuries and they begin looking like a 100-loss team and they played at that pace and worse. Within this game, the Giants started out looking like a playoff team, by the fourth inning they had morphed into a 100-loss plus team on the verge of imploding, and then right before our eyes went back to looking like world-beaters. 

I can't recall seeing anything quite like it. The closest parallels I could come with was ironically, the Cardinals sudden implosion against the Royals in their last World Series trip in 1985 and perhaps the 1969 Amazing Mets, in that people perceived them to still be a 100-loss team while they had morphed into a no nonsense 100-win team that just crushed their so-called "better" competitors throughout the playoffs. 

I have to admit, I was having 1985 Cardinals flash-back memories the way the Giants looked in the third inning. Fortunate they turned things around, and hopefully the hitting not only continues, but adds a heaping helping of Buster Posey. I'm sorry, his bat replaces Hunter Pence's on the milk carton. He is not hitting where he is is to turn in productive OUTS!! He is there to provide productive, RBI-filled AB's. Period!! Time to step up. 

It was good to see Hunter Strickland get back on the horse and show not just a 95+ MPH fastball, but the slider, a splitter and a change-up. Where have those pitches been hiding?

And where would this team be without Yusmeiro Petit? Sitting home watching, probably. 

The speed at which Vogelsong lost command and control of the game worries me and he was perhaps pitching for his life in SF which is too bad. I worry the same, unfortunately about Jake Peavy and to a lesser extent Tim Hudson. Adrenaline only takes you so far, usually an inning or two, than ability takes over. That leaves 3-4 inning of trouble to get to our own, over-shadowed shut down bullpen. Could see more of Petit and perhaps Timmy Lincecum. 

It's where we like the ball to be, Madison Bumgarner's hands. I don't want to under estimate the odds of Big Game James Shields pitching two sub-par games in a row, so this could be a battle of the bullpens again, perhaps going into extra frames. As is often the case in World Series games, a player you least expect to have an impact has to step forward. Where have you gone Al Weis? Or Denny Doyle. 

"Oooo-ree-bay" - Cain is more than able - Redemption for Renteria and Rowand

I'm not sure you could ask for anything more from a game than what the Giants received yesterday. I sat in stunned silence towards the end of it, saying quietly to my wife, "It's as if everything that could go right for the Giants, has gone right". Scary right.

Matt Cain cements his reputation as a top of the rotation, big-time ace pitcher.
Juan Uribe continues to play out of his mind.
Edgar Renteria DOES discover the Marlins post-season magic.
Aaron Rowand delivers a line-drive laser dagger to the 421 sign in right-center.
Buster Posey continues to play Buster Posey like baseball.
The bullpen shows its incredible depth and versatility.

The earlier comparisons to the '69 Amazing NY Mets may not be too over the top. Superior pitching once again. Timely hitting and great defense. Role players coming through when asked. Even down to an opposition potential HR hitting the top of the wall and -- instead of bouncing over the wall the ball bounces back into the field of play, seemingly violating all laws of nature and/or physics. Brings back memories of the 1973 Mets and the "Ball on the Wall" play.

from ultimatemets.com
1973 Regular Season Game 153
September 20, 1973
Mets 4, Pirates 3

http://www.ultimatemets.com/gamedetail.php?gameno=1939&tabno=B

Karma? Magic? Catching lightning in a bottle? Team of destiny? I don't care, take your pick. Call it what you will. I just know its starting to feel real. I can only remember feeling like this about the '69 and to a lesser extent the '73 Mets. (A lesser extent because the '73 Mets lost the World Series, after being perhaps the least deserving team on paper to ever appear in a World Series). The Rangers have had everything go wrong for them short of having a black cat walk past their dugout.

METS V. CUBS 9/9/1969 - THE BLACK CAT GAME

I thought it very Tim McCarver like of Tim McCarver to deliver the stupidest line of the evening. Late in the game, after the Rangers bullpen blowout, he delivers a gem along the lines of "Well pitching is winning this game for the Giants, but not theirs". Is that right? Correct me if I'm wrong Timmy-boy but the score before the meltdown was 1-0. The Rangers ended the evening still stuck on 0. I think the Giants pitching did more than their fair share in winning this game for the Giants by virtue of the fact that -- by pitching a shutout - they guarantee that you don't lose. At worst, we would still be playing. Therefore, I think the Giants pitching did in fact win the game for the Giants, the Rangers pitching just made the game less artistic --something more akin to a Spring Training "B" game for the last couple of innings.

Granted the Giants caught a bit of a break when Wilson raised a blister, but that may be symptomatic of the problem the Rangers are facing. The scene from Hoosiers where the coach measures the height of the basket at the big time arena and tells his players "Same height as the basket you guys are used to". What got you here should be good enough to get you through. It seems as if perhaps the blister may have raised from squeezing the ball a little tighter, trying to get a little extra movement or a little extra break. In baseball, if you take care of the little things, the big things fall into place. The Rangers are feeling the effect in a negative sense.

Last night, the Rangers relievers had the same look of awe that the Hoosiers team did when they first walked into the big-time arena. Awe-struck and feeling out of place. We'll see if some home cooking set their minds right and puts the wheels back on the cart.

HOOSIERS. CLASSIC!!!

The same thing when the reliever threw 13-14 straight balls (I lost count). Then the deer in the headlights look. The 'WTF is going on?' countenance. The wheels came off and they couldn't put them back on. The next reliever did the same thing. Overcompensation.

I see this a lot in HS or PONY ball. A kid throws a pretty, picture-perfect breaking ball. Then the next one he tries to make it break even better than the last one. Better than perfect. And drives it into the dirt, or hangs it. Overcompensation. Instead of just repetition. Repeat. Lather, rinse, repeat. Over and over again. It's the root meaning of the word mechanics. To be machine-like, perform the same act -- over and over again, the same way each time, with mind-blowing repetition and efficiency.

Whatever it is, the Giants seems to have it and the Rangers don't.
At least for now.

Maybe it's because the Giants have had to play all season on a razor-thin margin of error due to the lack of offense. They've played 'playoff-like' baseball -- minus the playoff intensity -- all season. Now, it's just second nature. I noticed in the Matt Cain post game interview that the first thing Cain did was deflect credit from his own efforts to those of catcher Buster Posey. This is a trait that this team has demonstrated throughout the playoffs. The glory is shared and spread around liberally. Its a nice quality for a teammate to have.

The next game may be the first pitching match-up in a while where I don't think we have an advantage. And that's only because of Sanchez' last outing. Before that he was beginning to show signs of elevating to near the Cain / Lincecum level as a shut down starter. If he comes up big-time / lights out on the road, that will be the start he will be linked to for a long time. If it's anything near the meltdown versus Philadelphia, it will take him a while to shake the hit to his reputation. So Jonathan is -- fairly or unfairly -- facing a World Series opponent on the field as well as one between his ears. He has to contain his emotions and direct /focus them in a positive direction. If he does that, he can carry the franchise one step closer to the prize.

GO GIANTS!!!

The Return of "The Freak" Lincecum shuts down the Rockies

Giants defeat the Rockies 2-1 in a pivotal series. The Rockies may have to run the table from here on out to get to the playoffs, they no longer have any margin of error and it's tough to play that way at this point in the season. Giants set themselves up nicely for the rest of the series and the season.

Not much more you can ask for today. Burrell provides all the offense with a two-run bomb. Typical.

How Giants starter Tim Lincecum beat the Rockies: - 93.0 average fastball velocity (highest in a start since July 7th) - Upped the fastball velocity to a 93.5 average with men in scoring position (highest this season) - Overall, hitters were 1-for-10 against the fastball (.100; .274 entering Friday)

ESPN Stats & Information

This stat is pretty awesome and speaks to how the Giants have been winning games of late.

San Francisco pitchers have gone 18 straight games giving up three or fewer runs. It's the longest streak since the Chicago White Sox set the record with 20 straight in 1917, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

So much for the lack of run support argument. If you only get three runs, hold 'em to two. If you only get two runs, hold 'em to one.

I was trying to think of teams that mirrored the Giants in terms of winning games in this fashion and the best I could come up with was the 1969 and 1973 Mets, who won with rock-ribbed pitching performances on a near-daily basis, combined with an anemic offense.

Maybe more recently, the Marlins teams that won championships, perhaps? I still like the Mets examples better.

Here's hoping for similar results.

HOO-RAY FOR THE RAYS...AND BASEBALL

I stumbled upon a couple of fascinating pieces of data while strolling through the Baseball Reference web site a couple of days ago. And the data leads me to the conclusion that maybe I need to back off my bashing of Rays fans just a tad.

BASEBALL REFERENCE WEB SITE:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/

I was trying to think of when was the last time a team with a similar record and history of futility as the Rays rose up to compete at the World Series level in a similarly surprising fashion.

The best I could come up with was the 1969 Miracle Mets, a team I witnessed grow up before my eyes as a youth growing up in New Jersey.

And I started to wonder what the team attendance figures were, THEN and NOW.

The 2008 Rays drew 1,811,986 fans according to the site.

By comparison, the 1969 Mets, in the New York market, drew 2,175,373. TOTAL. And they were FIRST in attendance in the National League!!!!

The Yankees drew only 1,067,996 the same year, they were basically a .500 team. The Orioles, who won the division and also played in the 1969 World Series, drew 1,062,069.

The 1970 Cincinnati Reds, THE BIG RED MACHINE, drew 1,803,568 the next year, with a 102-60 record.

The 1972 Reds drew only 1,611,459 as a divisional winner. The 1973 division winning Mets drew only 1,912,390 for a team that was not expected to compete for a title.

It wasn't until the 1980's that we began to see attendance figures really swell for some of these division winners and cross the 2 million mark. The 1981 Dodgers won with 2,381,292 and the 1986 Mets drew 2,767,601.

So 1.8 million fans is not too bad for the Rays and the Tampa Bay community to hang their hat on. Perhaps if the infamous "Contraction List" comes back into vogue among the ownership, the Rays will not be on it. We'll see what the follow-up attendance is this year.
------------------
Interesting that in the A-Rod drama this week, we see again a PLAYER, publicly drawn and quartered.

A PLAYER squeezed for a public apology, and then being excoriated in the media for said apology not being quite good enough.

And at the same time, we hear Bud "Sargent Schultz" Selig claim no responsibility, no culpability whatsoever for the growth of the problem.

I'm not sure how Tom Hicks can demand an apology when he should in fact be offering one up for having so many users on his roster without his knowledge. Yeah right.

LET ME SEE IF I HAVE THIS RIGHT:

This team of Hicks' had A-Rod, Rafael Palmiero, Pudge Rodriguez on it's roster from the period in question, 2001-2003.

They also employed Ken Caminiti (2001), Gabe Kapler (2001-02) and Juan Gonzalez (2002). Not to mention at one time employing Jose Canseco.

This is also the team whose player representative to the union is credited with being the first clean player to step up at a union meeting and identify the extent of the problem in Rick Helling.

AND YOU, THE OWNER OF THE TEAM, HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON???


They should force this idiot to state his position under oath, perhaps before Congress, then strap his lying ass to a polygraph and see where the results take us.

By the way, as an interesting side note, the Rangers from 2001-2003 finished last in their division ALL THREE YEARS IN QUESTION.

Interesting stuff. It should make for some great labor-management negotiations going forward.