More "Moneyball" Madness

Stephen Shelby pointed me towards an article by David Cameron (from StrikeThree.com) called Funnyball, which I finally got around to reading today.

This review comes from someone from the minor league trenches, so to speak. David focuses more on the minors then the majors, so he has a very interesting perspective of "Moneyball". As he states, some people are reading this story now, while some followed it last year.

David updates us on the status of seven of the A's draft picks from 2002, and why the new drafting philosophy isn't the cornerstone of the Oakland franchise (it's the pitching, of course).

Clearly, it is too early to judge the success of the A's new draft philosophy. This is not meant to condemn the drafting of college players, or even the specific players that the A's selected. However, Lewis' writing suggests that Beane has found the Holy Grail of player development. At this point in time, its just as likely that he's simply found a wooden cup.

[The A's] have an extensive program at every level of the organization regarding pitching mechanics and pitch counts, and they have a fascinating program in the lower minor leagues regarding pitcher usage. As Lewis describes in the book, the A’s do not believe in drafting high school pitchers (pitchers aged 18-22 are the worst injury risks in baseball, by several orders of magnitude). The A’s are loaded with pitching prospects in their minor leagues, and they apparently did not have a single major arm or elbow surgery all of last year (the Yankees, by contrast, should have qualified for group discounts on such surgeries).

Practice What You Preach

I recently picked up Michael Lewis' "Moneyball" and Rob Neyer's "Big Book of Baseball Lineups". I suggest you do the same.

I've been jumping through Rob's book for the last couple of days, and it's a great book for stat-heads and casual fans alike. I recommend it for any baseball fan.

And I've decided that there will be no links on the right for products that I do not currently own . . . so if you see it there, then I own it and recommend it. If you want to buy it from a store, great! (That's how I buy most of my stuff.) But if you're going to order it online (from Amazon) then feel free to click through here, or at any other great blog that you want to support (here's two: Only Baseball Matters & Aaron's Baseball Blog), as we get a small - roughly 5% - profit form all click-through sales. The best part is that the prices aren't raised to cover that cost, so it doesn't affect the purchase price!

Support local music (just because), and support great blogs (with click-through purchases)!

No Mo

Mo Vaughn is going to hang 'em up, according to an ESPN.com report. Watching Baseball Tonight last night, they reported that if he had surgery that his career would be over, which was why he was trying to rehab . . . since he wanted to play baseball again. Here's what a Mets official had to say:

"My understanding is that he will need surgery just to walk normally, never mind play baseball. He's in rough shape."

Down on the Farm

Stephen Shelby (SS's SF Giants Diary) was at the Fresno Grizzlies vs. Sacramento Rivercats game Friday, and got to see Jerome Williams in action.

Before the game, my friend and I stood above the Fresno bullpen to watch Jerome Williams warm up. His control in the pen looked pretty good, but he struggled with his control once the game started, allowing two walks and a hit in the first inning before escaping the jam.

Jerome Williams opened the game with fastballs of 86, 86, 87, 88, 88 and 89 mph. After that his fastball was typically in the 88-90 mph range, although he did hit 91 a couple times. Williams best pitch tonight was his changeup, which he threw generally 69-71 mph. He got a lot of swing-throughs on that pitch. I remember only a couple curve balls, both to lefty 1B Graham Koonce with runners on 2nd and 3rd base before walking him in the 4th.

The 3 runs scored in the 4th inning. The first batter reached on an error, bumping Williams at 1B during the play. Williams next pitch was the wild pitch in the box score. Several batters later a run scored. The other runs scored on ground ball past the diving 1B Tony Torcato with the infield drawn at least half-way in.

Jerome Williams did feel his position very well, once getting a bunt to get the lead runner at 3B and another time jumping high in the air to field the bouncing ball with his bare hand.

That's not how I would've said it

Steve Shelby, of SS's SF Giants Diary, clued me into an article over at the Contra Costa Times. The article is mostly about Neifi Perez, which I'll get to briefly, but a quote from Rich Aurilia was the intended reference.

Appearantly, Aurilia is already looking into his Free Agency, and has named Arizona as a possibility.

In the long run it's not my decision, but they would be an attractive alternative. They're attractive because I could live at home and stay here. But at the same time, I like it here (San Francisco). My No. 1 choice would be to rejoin the Giants.

He offered a B.S. contract -- $7.8 million for four years. I said no to that. ... I told him I wanted a contract similar to (fellow shortstops) Edgar Renteria and Rey Ordonez. That's the only part that made me upset.

Other People's E-mail

Rob Neyer answers e-mails about "Moneyball", and some really interesting things are brought up.

Especially interesting to me was the balance of OBP, Slugging % and the combination of the two (OPS).

OPS is a crude tool, a blunt object that shouldn't be used when precision is critical. But you know, most of the time precision isn't critical. We don't need to modify OPS to know that J.T. Snow and Doug Mientkiewicz probably don't deserve to play every day, and we don't need to modify OPS to know that Alex Rodriguez should. Nor do we need modified OPS to know that Chris Singleton doesn't seem to fit into the Oakland lineup.

Early Trade Info

Peter Gammons has his trade rumors up, and while nothing specific is around yet, he's got some laundry lists for teams and players out there.

He had positive things to say about the Giants, which is always good to hear.

The Giants will wait, as they always do until the right fit, at the right price, comes along.

While Kansas City is expected to test Carlos Beltran's market, they, the White Sox, Expos, Rockies and Diamondbacks are in the races. For now. But if the ships start sinking, the names Bartolo Colon, Curt Schilling, Byung-Hyun Kim and Javier Vazquez could all change the October landscape.

Privately, Schilling has done that math himself. He knows Johnson is signed now through 2005. He'll have a year left on his contract, at $12 million, next winter. And he has a full no-trade clause. So to some degree, he can control whether he goes, stays, signs an extension or becomes a free agent.

Pac Bell (Pitcher's) Park

Tim Kurkjian writes about Pac Bell Park, and explains - to those who don't already know - that it is in fact a pitcher's park . . . despite the fact that Superman plays there.

Last season, only 114 home runs were hit at Pac Bell, the fewest of any ballpark in a full season since 1992 -- the season before the beginning of this offensive extravaganza in baseball. Opponents hit only 42 homers. ... By comparison, 245 home runs were hit last year at The Ballpark In Arlington, more than twice as many as Pac Bell. This year, 67 home runs have been hit in 22 games at Cincinnati's new Great American Ballpark. Reds' opponents have already hit 31 home runs.

San Francisco's Other Closer

I need to go to Iowa. I need to go to Iwoa to see the AAA Iowa Cubs play, but more importantly, I need to go to Iowa to see Rod Beck. You see, he's living in an RV just outside of the ballpark, and he's hanging out with any and all comers. He's in Iowa pitching on a minor-league deal with the Cubs (after reconstructive elbow surgery), and looking to get back into the majors.

Beck said three teams have called his agent with major league offers. But he's waiting for the right fit and won't pitch for the major league minimum of $300,000. He's 34 saves away from 300 and is convinced, "if you tell me that I'm your guy and you give me the ball everyday, I can get you 35 to 50 saves a year. Guaranteed. I just need the opportunity."

Gone Fishin'

The Southpaw won't be updated this weekend.

I'm going camping with my wife and my parents.

Go Giants, and go Kings!

More Beane

Eric Neel has an interesting article over at ESPN.com about how practically no one is willing to jump on Billy Beane's bandwagon . . . at least not entirely.

I saw two arguments that made sense to me: fielding and pitching.

Fielding

When looking at stats such as OBP, fielding skill may be overlooked. To me, this just means that you go after players with the stats that you like, and also look for good defensive players to fill holes for players who aren't as good defensively.

The Brewers' Doug Melvin suggests one of the major splits between the ways small-market teams do business is in whether they privilege defense at the expense of offense, or vice versa. If you're the Yankees, maybe you get both. If you're the A's or the Brewers, you most likely have to compromise.

At the end of the day, though -- numbers and philosophies aside -- Melvin said the real key to what the A's have accomplished recently isn't at the plate, it isn't in the draft room, and it isn't in Billy Beane's head. It's in the lightning in a bottle sitting on the Network Associates Coliseum pitcher's mound. "If you take Mulder, Zito and Hudson," Melvin said, "those three are for me the main reasons for the success of the Oakland A's."

All the A's marketing studies showed that the main things fans cared about was winning. Win with nobodies and the fans showed up, and the nobodies became stars; lose with stars and the fans stayed home, and the stars became nobodies. Assembling nobodies into a ruthlessly efficient machine for winning baseball games, and watching them become stars, was one of the pleasures of running a poor team.

"I hope they continue to believe that our way doesn't work. It buys us a few more years."

A Must Read

Alex Belth's Bronx Banter has a fantastic review of Michael Lewis' "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game".

I have heard a little about this book, and decided that I will be reading it . . . and if there was any doubt, Alex's review has removed it.

Great work.

Plan B Options (Guerrero Talk part 5)

Got some more e-mails from faithful readers Jurgen Maas & Stephen Shelby. I love it when we can keep this stuff rolling.

Stephen takes the "dream OF plus 3 scrubs" idea and expands.

From what I had been told (by someone who watches more of the AL), Cruz is a definitely below average CF. That is one reason I have been so pleasantly surprised by his defense in RF. To go a little further with your idea, the Giants could try either Torcato or Linden at 1B next year. Those are definitely inexpensive options.

A fan at Pac Bell last year told me that Brian Giles was his dream player. I can't see a trade, though. Giles' contract is way too modest, so the Pirates do not need to dump his salary. Giles is a California native. I was also told that his contract includes a no-trade clause, except for about six teams, most of whom are California teams.

I was scanning MLB Contracts, and I realised that Sheffield is a free agent at the end of the year. Two things: 1) if he doesn't resign, then the Braves'
OF isn't up to the same lofty standards, and 2) might the Giants make a play for him if they lose the Guerrero sweepstakes? Obviously you'd prefer to have Vlad, if only because of the age difference, but if Sheffield continues on the Barry Bonds program of age defiance he could still be a hugely productive player.

For the record, I think MLB would be INSANE to let the Expos trade/lose Guerrero and Vazquez before the club's been sold. If I'm buying the Expos, I want the bill of sale to include the best young outfielder in the game. The fact that MLB is dragging its feet despite several interested parties is an embarassment to the game.

Best Ever? (Guerrero Talk part 4)

Reader Jurgen Maas checks in with some interesting comments regarding the best OF trio in baseball.

Assuming Superman regresses to mere .950-1.000 OPS levels, an outfield of Bonds (LF), Cruz (CF), and Guerrero (RF) would likely still edge Atlanta (Chipper, Andruw, Sheffield), Cincinnati (Dunn, Griffey, Kearns), and St. Louis (Pujols, Edmonds, Drew) as the best in the game--unless the Cubs pull off the Big Trade for Beltran that Joe Sheehan has been talking about (Alou, Beltran, Sosa).

But if Bonds continues to defy biology and Cruz is really and truly finally living up to his .850-.900 OPS potential, might the '04 Giants have the best offensive outfield of all time?

If any playoff team could afford to waste at bats with Neifi at SS, it might be this one: Durham, Alfonzo, Bonds, Guerrero, Cruz, plus three scrubs sounds good enough to me.

Keep The Streak Going

I just received this e-mail from Daniel J. McCarey. I'll let it speak for itself.

To whom it may concern:

I'm not sure if you are aware of this or not, but on February 22nd, 2003, Carl Riccio, my cousin, a 17 year old junior at Watchung Hills High School in NJ, broke his neck during a high school wrestling match. Carl was an undefeated wrestler and a star baseball player. This tragedy made headline news across the country. These accidents occur only twice a year in the sporting world.

Carl is currently listed a a quadraplegic and the doctor's have given him a 1% chance of recovering. Luckily, he is at one of the best spinal care facilities in the country now, The Kessler Institute in West Orange, NJ.

It would mean a great deal to him if you could post a get well message to him on his website, a fellow member of the baseball community.

This is the website address where you can read all about Carl and his story. It should have all his contact information there. But if it doesn't here is is contact info: Carl Riccio, c/o Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052 (973)731-3600. The Riccio's home address is (edited for privacy).

Even if all you can do is post a message on his website's message's board, it would mean a heck of alot to him.

Each night, his parents read all the website's, messages from around the country to him and his face lights up. Thanks again advance, Daniel J. McCarey

Contracts and Signings (Guerrero Talk part 3)

Got some reader mail to keep the debate going (my favorite kind).

First was Doug Hutchinson from Westwood Blues. He makes some great points about available dollars next year.

I wanted to add a couple of points to your discussion about contracts. While it is true that there is a lot of money coming off the books at the end of this year, it is also true that there will be a fair amount of salary added to the books in the form of raises. The Giants front office knew they would have greater flexibility after Snow's contract and Benard's albatross expire at the end of 2003. The Giants have already used some of this flexibility to backload the contracts of some of the players they signed the last two offseasons.

I believe the Giants priority this offseason will be to lock up Cruz to a long term deal. So I think an outfield of Bonds, Cruz, and Vlad is just to good to be true. But it's fun to dream.

I don't know where else [Aurilia] would go, but I don't necessarily sense that he wants to stay. I think he'll be open-minded. Maybe Dusty tries to get him to come to the Cubs. I was a bit surprised to seriously suggest Guerrero. I wonder if the Giants might try to make a run at Brian Giles when he becomes a free agent in a few years.

A Life's Work

Ralph Wiley has a great column about Sam Lacy, a baseball writer who died recently at age 99. He sounds like the kind of guy you would love to watch a game with, and even more impartantly learn from.

Sam had seen Rube Foster, Turkey Stearns. He knew there was no real mystery to the game, so why try to act like there is? Of any male population, a certain infinitesimal percentage could become big leaguers. Period. Sam Lacy was a baseball writer. Sam wrote all sports, knew and talked to other Immortals, like Jesse Owens and Joe Louis, watched them perform, but at the end of the day -- a very long day, in Sam's case -- his greatest passion was big-league baseball, and his baby was Jackie Robinson. Sam not only covered Jack Roosevelt Robinson in the big leagues, stayed with sometimes, Sam helped get him there.

Sam Lacy was the one who championed Jackie Robinson for the MLB. Good thing someone listened.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Editor's Note: If "The Southpaw" is still active when I'm 99, I'd be ok with that. Would you still be reading?

Corrections (Guerrero Talk part 2)

Thank goodness I have readers, or I may not have even known that I'd messed up. Stephen Shelby of SS's SF Giants Diary found a glaring error in both of my posts today. Thanks Steve!

(1) Vinny Castillo had the check swing no-call in Game 2 (not Javy Lopez as previously reported), but Lopez did hit the HR.

(2) Woody signed a 2-year extension at the beginning of the season, meaning that his $4.75 million isn't coming off the books . . . I can't believe that I forgot that, especially after John over at OBM wrote in detail the fact that they basically chose Woody over Ortiz.

Steve also has this to add to the money debate:

I tend to agree that there is not nearly as much payroll as John Shea suggested. I would be in favor of Torrealba and Trey Lunsford (now hitting over .300 at Fresno) handling the catching duties next year. Also, why does everyone keep saying it is so likely that Aurilia will resign with the Giants? I see no reason to assume that, particularly from a team that saw fit to spend $4+ million on Neifi Perez and another $2+ million on Grissom. I also think that Cruz may have a player option, not a team option, for next year. The way he is playing, I would not expect Cruz to exercise the option.

More Guerrero-Giants Talk

Baseball News Blog led me to this article from the San Francisco Chronicle (written by John Shea) about the G-men going after Vlad the Impaler.

Guerrero can be a free agent after this season, and the Giants will be off the hook with several big contracts, allowing for the possibility that they can add perhaps the game's best all-around player while not dramatically increasing their payroll.

Guerrero, 27, can do it all, like a modern day Roberto Clemente, and would be the most prized free agent since Alex Rodriguez signed a 10-year contract with Texas for $252 million before the 2001 season. He won't get A-Rod money, but his agents will seek more than last winter's top free agent, Jim Thome, who received $87.5 million over six years from the Phillies.

2 Tough Losses

The Giants lost their last two games against the Braves this weekend, and it was rough to watch.

Ray Durham sprained his ankle sliding into third on a triple (putting him on the 15-day DL), Javy Lopez looked like he owned the Giants' pitching staff (4-for-24 before the series, 5-for-7 during), and one non-call may have been the deciding factor for both losses (explained below).

In Game 2 of the series, the Giants were tied at 2-2 (they were actually leading 2-1 before Nathon gave up a rare HR to Chipper) in the bottom of the 7th with Javy Lopez Vinny Castilla at the plate (one on, two out) and Joe Nathon pitching. With 2 strikes (I forget the count) Javy Vinny checks at a ball, clearly going too far. As most of the Giants are heading off the field, the call is appealed to the first-base umpire, who calls "no swing". What seemed like a dozen pitches later (as Javy Castillo faught off a lot of pitches into foul territory), Castillo singled up the middle, and was followed by a Javy Lopez at bat in which Nathon left a fastball up in the zone and Lopez belted it to center for a 2-run shot (4-2 Braves). (Thanks to Stephen Shelby for correcting me)

And then in the 8th, with Ryan Jensen in (when realistically Nathon should still have been pitching - if Lopez would have been called out on strikes in the 7th), the Braves rallied for 2 more (6-2 Braves).

The Giants made an effort to come back in the 9th off of John Smoltz, but only got one (Braves win 6-3).

In Game 3 of the series, the Giants are again up (3-2 in the 5th) with rain comming down and a delay/called game emminent. Just as Kiper and Krukow were talking about rushing a game to get in the manditory five, only to get hit for rushing, the Braves rally for 2 in the bottom half of the 5th for a 4-3 lead (just as play stops for rain with 2 outs, Brave up 4-3).

They finished the game (kudows to Fox Sports Net for jumping between the Giants and A's, with what looked like 30 minutes of commercial-free baseball), with the duo of Brower & Erye shutting the Braves down for 2 , and Rodriguez finishing the game with only Javy Lopez's 3-run HR in the 8th (7-3 Braves).

Here's how that one call may have cost them the series:

With Nathon pitching in the 8th in a tie-game, maybe the Braves don't rally, and if they do it's only a 2-run game instead of a 4-run game going into the 9th. Different mindset, different result? Perhaps.

Because of the extra pithes that he threw, Alou said that he wouldn't be using Nathon in Game 3. So one call (or no-call, as it were) prevented Nathon from pitching in the final game of the series (along with good handling of pitchers, imho).

Ouch.

Editor's Note: With a dodgers win, the Giants Magic Number is stuck at 120. The Kings Magic Number (Ewing Theory Watch), however, is now at 10.

Ewing Theory Watch

I have added my Kings Ewing Theory Prediction Watch on the right, and since it's not baseball related I haven't taken down the Giants Magic Number Watch.

Go Kings!

I Hope I'm the First to Say It

Chris Webber will be out for the remainder of the playoffs, and The Southpaw is "Officially Predicting" a Ewing Theory Championship Run for the Sacramento Kings.

You heard it here first (I think).

How do you say that in French?

Our good friend Steven Shelby wrote in a great little story about Tiger Stadium, or at least about the Tigers.

I went to college in Michigan, about two hours from Detroit. I never made it to Tiger Stadium. I remember once remarking to a friend when we were on the streets of Detroit near Greektown that we should go see a Tigers game sometime. Some street bum started laughing at me. "Who goes to see the Tigers? No one," he said.

Another Stadium I'll Never See

Mudville Magazine has a great commentary about Tiger Stadium. ("An American Ruin" - no perma-link available)

There was no majestic skyline view, no Rocky Mountains, no San Francisco Bay. In Tiger Stadium you had baseball, and that's all that anyone wanted. ..... Why not make Tiger Stadium a ruin of baseball's mighty past, an American Coliseum? No other sport is as indebted to its past as baseball, and wouldn't a ruin give us that connection to a supposedly simpler time? Someday, Fenway Park will vanish, and probably even Yankee Stadium, and the American League will have not a single monument to its heyday (Wrigley Field probably won't go anywhere). It was the Detroit Tigers and Tiger Stadium that helped to make baseball great.

Couldn't You Hook Him Up With A Link?

Aaron Gleeman & Aaron's Baseball Blog were mentioned today on Jayson Stark's Rumblings & Grumblings . . . but there was no hyperlink. What's up with that?

He was, of course, talking about A.J. Burnett.

It's undeniable that Burnett's pitch counts were higher than any young starter in the big leagues. As Will Carroll, of Baseball Prospectus, and Aaron Gleeman, of Aaron's Baseball Blog, have meticulously documented, Burnett threw 110 pitches or more in nearly two-thirds of his starts last year (63 percent) and 120 or more in over a third of them (37 percent).

Please Stay Tuned

I'm working on some template changes (as you may notice on the side). If anything isn't working correctly, please e-mail me.

Thanks!

Sleeping with the Enemy

I got an e-mail from Robert Tagorda who runs a site called Priorities & Frivolities. This will be my new source of information on the War in Iraq, as he is keeping tabs on the Top 55 Most Wanted (and what the best poker hand is with confirmed captures), and primary because I haven't been paying much attention lately and this will give me a good excuse to keep up to date.

Unfortunatley, he's a dodger fan. But we won't hold that against him, except when I put him at the bottom of my links.

Editor's Note: BwaHahahahahahahaha!

More Hits Then (insert Ike Turner joke here)

For the thralls of you coming over from Aaron's Baseball Blog, thanks. I hope you like the site.

And to pass the goodwill along, I'd like to add a new link to the gallary . . . Westwood Blues is a blog of a Giants fan living trapped in Los Angeles. I've been there, and dodger dogs aren't really that good (contrary to popular belief). I love the Neifi Alert System, btw.

I'll try not to hold the fact that he's a Stanford alum against him (they've got a good baseball program there). Go SC!

Editor's Note: Correction, that's UC Santa Barbara - "The Stanford of Southern California", by the way.

Some Followups

Part 2 of Bronx Banter's interview with Rob Neyer is up.

Here are parts two and three of the Black Sox Scandal (better late then never).

And here's another how to fix the Mets article, also from At Home Plate.

And while we're looking At Home Plate (pun intended), here's Opening Day in SF, Barry Bonds: Greatest Player Ever?, and Teams We Love To Hate (featuring the Giants and dodgers) for your Giants reading pleasure.

Finally, let's link Aaron's Baseball Blog just because he gave me a huge plug today (in a very rare "short" post). Thanks Aaron!

Just Go Away

Jose Canseco named A-Rod as one of the players who told him that he was being blackballed by Major League Baseball.

When asked about it, A-Rod said that he didn't remember saying anything of the sort to Canseco. When asked if Canseco was being blackballed, he had this to say:

I have no idea. I haven't really thought about it.

Fuel for the Fire?

In other Closing Pitcher-related news, Armando Benitez was rumored to be Ray Sanchez's barber during the infamous in-game haircut.

In New York, where rumors spread faster then poisen ivy, could this be fuel for the "trade Benitez" fire in NYC?

Luckily - with Nen's recovery now a likely reality - I don't see the Giants making any desperation moves, although as John Perricone over at OBM says, this could handcuff Sabean come this year's trade-deadline.

Not Done Yet

Rob Nen's surgery went better then expected, and he should be ready for Spring Training '04. Great news for the Giants, as Nen will undoubtably exercise the 2004 Player Option of his contract.

Here's what Stan Conte had to say:

He didn't feel that it was as serious as we may have thought. It came out better than we expected. He won't be throwing for four months, but Dr. Morgan is very optimistic. He should be ready to go by spring training next year.

123 (or so) To Go

I've replaced the no-hit watch with the Giants' Magic Number Countdown. This is simply the mathematical number of games that are required for the Giants to win the NL West (in this case: 162 total games - 32 games played - 7 games ahead = 123 games needed to elimiate the closest team).

If you've got a better idea, e-mail me and your request could be the new "watch box" on The Southpaw!

No-Hit THIS . . . Tracker

Well, with the new Site Meter, it has become glaringly obvious that eXtReMe Tracker has failed me. My "no-hit watch" was un-needed, and should have been called the "tracker watch".

I am now accepting submissions for what I should replace the no-hit watch with.

Baseball By The Bay

I'm surprised that I haven't seen this before . . . but now I have. Baseball By The Bay is a great site that chronicles both sides of the bay, with A's and Giants coverage.

The Giants have always been my team, but as I've mentioned here before, I adopted the A's as my AL team after the fire sale (didn't think it'd pay off this quickly though).

Great site, you may crack the Starting 9 pretty soon.

Not Good Times, Bad Times

ESPN reports that Nen's done for the year.

"This is serious,'' team trainer Stan Conte said before Tuesday night's game against the Florida Marlins. "Is it career-threatening? Yes, it is. Robb knows that.''

Slow Day = Lots of Posts

The Southpaw was in rare form today, with nine posts today (including this one). Getting e-mail from readers (and having a slow work day) sure fire me up for writing.

As it turns out, the readers are there . . . eXtReMe Tracker just doesn't feel like counting them. Site Meter has opened my eyes.

Thanks to everyone for letting me know that you're out there. Looks like I'll be pulling down the "No-Hit Watch" sooner rather than later. Good times.

If anyone has suggestions for what I should replace it with, e-mail me.

Great Question . . . Equally Great Answer

I found this exchange (perma-link broken) over at The New Giant Thrill (they've got comments, I'll have get in on that).

The question:

Runners on first and second, starting pitcher gets pulled. The 2 runners are now obviously inherited runners to the relief pitcher. The next batter hits a slow roller to short, the runner is out at second and the runner is safe at first on a fielders choice. Is the runner on first now an inherited runner? Or does he belong to the relief pitcher?

According to the MLB rule book, section 10.18 (g): When pitchers are changed during an inning, the relief pitcher shall not be charged with any run (earned or unearned) scored by a runner who was on base at the time he entered the game, nor for runs scored by any runner who reaches base on a fielder's choice which puts out a runner left on base by the preceding pitcher. -- so...the run would go to the starting pitcher....

I'll Take The Southpaw

Waiting for Boof has this (perma-link broken) to offer:

There are two groups of people who follow the Giants' minor leaguers: those who prefer Aaron Sobieraj, and those who prefer Aaron Hornostaj. There is no in-between. The sooner you decide, the sooner you can get on with your life.

Gettin' My Proppers (that's "Props" for my Gen Y readers)

Baseball News Blog linked me for my MVP Baseball 2003 Review (which is also listed in Southpaw's Best).

Listed just above my reference was the Rob Neyer Chat Wrap. Check out this quote:

No Yankee is indispensable, and I find the notion that Jeter's indispensable pretty silly, considering how well the Yanks have played without him. If there's an indispensable player in the majors, it's Barry Bonds, as he's the only player who turns a good team into a great team.

Bronx Banter . . . at it again

Alex Belth over at Bronx Banter has another great interview, this time with Rob Neyer (he even got a plug on Rob Neyer's Home Page!). Check out Part 1 here (perma-link broken).

Grab some popcorn . . . it's a long one.

This has been a very NY-oriented day here at The Southpaw.

I complain that there's no good Giants info out there . . . maybe I should be writing some.

SHAZAM!

In what has to be a record here at The Southpaw, I have already received feedback on my Mets column. Maybe I'm writing about the wrong team!

Liam over at The Liam McEneaney Experience agreed with me, and had this to say to sum up life as a Mets fan.

It's very frustrating, as on paper they have an excellent team.

Come for the Overpriced Players,
Stay for the Overpriced Hot Dogs

New Counter!

We've added a new site counter kiddies, and it's called (get this) Site Meter.

I recommend it because you can set it to ignore all hits from your IP address, which gives you a better estimate of how many people (other then yourself) are visitng you site.

Editor's Note: In my case that should be in the high single digit range.

Speculation Time: Where Everyone's A GM!

Everyone knows that the Mets are in a bad situation: Last Place; $120,000,000 payroll; etc. Peter Gammons has his take here, while in one of my personal favorite styled columns, Bob Klapisch has some suggestions if he were the GM.

These are my favorite columns because they deal with my favorite subject in sports: "Trade Speculation". Trade Speculation is pretty much what got The Southpaw started (as you can see by reading some of Southpaw's Best). It's so simple to have all the answers when you're not the one making them. YOUR job isn't on the line, YOU'RE not being hounded constantly when the team isn't succeeding, and everything is guesswork until it really happens (will they thrive on a new team? in a new city? with a new manager?).

So let's see what The Southpaw would do if he were spending other people's money, and if the other teams would even BITE on this stuff anyway (Klapisch did it in 5 steps, so I'll do it in four).

(1) Trade Roberto Alomar & Mo Vaughn to KC for Carlos Beltran
I'll jump right into something crazy, because again, it's not my money. First of all, KC is looking to fill a hole at 2B. Alomar has had much better luck in the AL then the NL, so sending him back to the league that he flourished in could be the key to unlock the juvenation machine.

The Mets have been rumored to be looking to dump Vaughn so that they can move Piazza to 1B. The catch here is that the Mets are also rumored to be looking to ship him out while still paying his salary. A small market team like KC that's having an Anaheim-02 type of season could use a free bat, even if it means sending out one that they already have.

Beltran would be a great fit with Piazza for a rebuilding NY to stay competitive, and if not, the Orioles have been actively pursuing trade talks with KC for the chance to audition him (he's a free agent after this season).

The Orioles have been trying to pry Beltran from the Royals for months, particularly after Beltran rejected Kansas City's three-year, $25 million offer of a contract extension in December. The trouble is, the teams may not be compatible trading partners, meaning a third club may have to be introduced to the deal if it's going to work.

The Plot Thickens

Although my counter tells me that there was one unique visitor yesterday, which it said before I posted anything, and one today . . . how can you explain the two e-mails I got about my post?!?!?!?

A-HA!

One of those e-mails was Michael from View From the 700 Level, who both compliments The Southpaw and gets a dig in on my Giants.

Have no fear. I still check in on a daily basis. Millwood may no-hit the Giants, but this Phillies fan is trying to give you a hit of some sort. :)

By the way, nice review of MVP Baseball 2003. I haven't had a chance to play it for almost 3 weeks now, and I'm itching for some free time.

Good thing I've been busy

Apearantly, the local baseball coverage has been worse that I had previously thought. Here's an article from the Sacramento Bee about how hard it is to watch the Giants or A's if you live in Sacramento (credit SS's SF Giants Diary for the link).

This is atrocious. I'm about to switch over to a mini-dish, and have been thinking about ordering the Extra Innings package. F-that. I'd rather get NFL Sunday Ticket or NBA's League Pass then pay to still not see local baseball. I'll stick with WGN (Cubbies) and TBS (Braves) for out-of-town baseball coverage and save the cash.

Add this to the list of things that Major League Baseball is doing to UN-market itself as the National Pasttime.

Seligula & Co. should look at this before they come out and talk about how bad off baseball is. Try promoting it, not demoting it. Not good times, bad times.

Reader (singular) Response

I heard from my reader today! Gordy Hulten (a Giants fan in Champaign, IL no less!) reminded me that I'm not the only one who visits The Southpaw.

As one of your two daily visitors, keep up the good work! Go Giants!

No-hit for 15 days? That has to be a bit discouraging.

Finally, The MVP Baseball 2003 REVIEW

Being that I'm almost at the All Star Break in MVP Baseball 2003 for the PS2, I thought I should finally get down to putting up the review that I previously promised.

First of all, this game is playable out of the box. There isn't a big learning curve to get started, which is always a bonus. This isn't an indication of the difficulty, however, or is it?

I have been avoiding a new baseball game due to some of the new "features" that baseball games have been getting over the last few years. Many comapnies think that the more "realistic" a baseball game is, the better it will be received by the public. While this may be true in thoery, I am living proof that it doesn't quite work in reality.

One of my biggest pet peeves in baseball games is having to warm up your relief pitchers before bringing them in. While this realistically mimics the reality of baseball, it doesn't translate well for me in a video game setting. This is a feature that I have found some takers for, but most that I have spoken to aren't thrilled with this "feature" of baseball games.

MVP Baseball 2003 does not have this feature. (+1 point)

Another common feature that I feel is a still in its infancy is the "guess the pitch" feature while batting that most next-gen games have. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, I'm talking about the fact that you have to move your cursor over where the ball will be pitched to get solid contact. This is a great idea, but in practice it seems a little more like guesswork then skill.

MVP Baseball 2003 also does not have this feature. (+1 point)

First take a look at this short article I found for a quick rundown of changes (this is NOT a Triple Play remake). Now, on to the nitty-gritty.

Gameplay
The gameplay is smooth, even if it struggles a little bit when you're batting with the bases loaded (too much going on at once - with baserunners and all). There are options for seeing the vector lines of balls put into play (so you can judge distance and speed) and halos for where balls are going to land (to put your fielders into position for fly balls). Fielding is fairly easy to understand, and puts more of the control of errors into the players hands as opposed to luck (or more likely unluck) deciding when an error happens. Throwing is the best example of this. When you field a ball in play, you will obviously need to throw it. To throw the ball, you have a meter for how hard you want to throw it (the farther into the meter, the harder the throw). There are three things I like about this: (1) if you want to throw it hard, the player will take longer to throw - the meter needs to fill; (2) the exception to Rule 1, if you KNOW where you want to throw the ball ahead of time, you can start charging your throw while the ball is being fielded (great for quick DP turns or slow rollers); and (3) the end of the meter is red, which may or may not cause an error. If you need to throw someone out at the plate, you can choose to max out your meter, but the throw might be off target a little, a lot, or even get past for an error. Now YOU control the chances of an error, not the computer. Plus, the picture-in-picture baserunning makes taking leads and controlling baserunners more intuitive then ever. (+1 point)

Graphics
The one glaring problem with the graphics are the fans. Pretty much every baseball game since the dawn of time has had this problem, but in the new 3D style these games are in, it has become glaringly obvious. I counted half a dozen different fans copied and pasted into the 10,000+ seats of each stadium (if only it were that easy for Montreal). Oh, and the players on both benches are cardboard cutouts as well. But the stadiums are great, with all the features one would expect to see at each stadium intact. The water in KC isn't a nice as I would have liked, and when you hit a foul ball into McCovey Cove you can watch it bounce(?!?!?!?), but the details are there, and the game looks good. Most of the player faces are recognizable, which is pretty cool as well. (even)

Sound
Hosted by the SF Giants' announce team of Duane Kiper and Mike Krukow, it was great to play a baseball game with my local announcers. They even rip into players pretty good and have some more "adult" comments (i.e. "Swing the bat, MEAT!" & "He nutted that one!"). It's fairly humorous. The music follows in EA Sports' Madden 2003 with a variety of newer bands (rock and hip hop) performing songs you might not have heard on the radio, which os great (but even with the large number of songs, still gets repetative after a while - although a HUGE improvement over menu music). (even)

Options
Distance driven HR Derby, Tournament, Playoff, and Franchise modes, and more computer-to-computer team trades then any sports game I've ever seen make this a keeper. The options are plentyful, but don't add up quite like the Madden series (give it another year or two and it probably will). (+0.5 points)

Yeah, but is it any fun?
In a word, YES. In many more words, I've had this game for about a month or so now, and I'm already rapidly approaching the All Star Break. I've made more trades then I can count, have had two of my best players take some time on the DL (Schmidt & Bonds) and yet I'm running away with the NL West while ALL FOUR teams behind me are within 2 games of each other. Good times. (+1.5 points)

Verdict
Totalling up The Southpaw Arbitrarty Point Total, MVP Baseball 2003 scored an impressive 5 points! Using a standard 5-star system - I give it 4.5 . . . and using a percentage scale - it scores an easy 92%.

An online option would have been great, but people skip out of Madden when they're losing, so I can't really see the mass-marketing appeal of online baseball . . . but it'd be great with friends!

So there you have it. If you made it this far, you must be interested, so go out and buy/rent/steal/download/copy/borrow it today!

And still I push forward

I added a "No-Hit Watch", isn't counting the days between Millwood's performance and the next No Hitter. It is a running total of consecutive days that The Southpaw has received 5 or less Unique Visitors. When/if this oddity goes away, I'll probably put something else up there, most likely baseball related. Credit others who have done it before me (The Cub Reporter, Elephants in Oakland, etc).

Oddly enough, the Baseball News Blog plug falls in the middle of this drought, so it seems as though The Southpaw is falling off the face of the earth publicly.

For the two of you still reading, fear not, for I will be continuing to post in my usual manner (which by the looks of things might drive both of you away as well).

Ah, the logetivity of the internet.

Editor's Note: Aaron Gleeman is definitely NOT having this problem. Congratulations to Aaron's Baseball Blog for passing the 65,000 visitor mark in only 9 months. Even more impressive is that it has grown EVERY SINGLE MONTH it has existed. As he is a much better baseball writer then myself, I hope that you go there now if you're not one of the 65,000 that already has.

Does that league have a wild card too?

Tim Kurkjian has his April wrapup over at ESPN.com and here's the highlight:

April gave us many injuries, proving again that there are three leagues today: AL, NL and the DL.