Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
The Yankees had a nice, only intermittently terrifying 7-6 win over the Twins this afternoon. The good news: they flashed some long-overdue power, and though A-Rod (0 for his last 19) sat this one out, his MRI came back normal. The bad news: Kei Igawa.
Igawa walked the first batter he faced and then allowed three straight soft singles (though Cuddyer was hung up between 1st and 2nd on one of those), a strikeout, a bungled play near the mound that became an awkward pop-up single, and another strikeout; when the smoke cleared it was 2-0 Twins. It's rare to get significant booing at Yankee Stadium in the top of the first inning like that -- people are still filing in and buying hot dogs and whatnot -- but Igawa's got the knack for it.
Those first-inning hits were pretty weak, so you could try to chalk them up to bad luck if you were so inclined... except that later in the game he would go on to enjoy much better luck, and pitch even worse. During the in-game comments, someone asked what kind of pitches Igawa was throwing, and the truth is I could barely tell. You’d probably need to get a forensics team in there to be sure: “Well, based on this partial thumbprint, it appears this was meant to be a curveball… but it’s difficult to be sure, as the ball has suffered severe blunt trauma.”
The Yanks broke through for five runs off Kevin Slowey in the second, all with two outs...
[Off the top of my head and in no particular order, the worst pitcher names* ever:
Kevin Slowey
David Riske
Homer Bailey
J.J. Putz
John Boozer
Grant Balfour
And, of course, the immortal Bob Walk.
Best non-pitcher name that I discovered by accident while looking up Pete Walker’s stats: Welday Wilberforce Walker.]
...Anyway! In that second inning, Robinson Cano homered, his fifth of the year; Andy Phillips and Miguel “Mig-Rod” Cairo hit back to back doubles to tie the game; Damon walked; and Melky Cabrera followed with a solid three-run shot to center, giving the Yanks a 5-2 lead. Melky’s been on fire recently, and his stats are beginning to come around to respectable levels, though after his molasses-slow start he still has a ways to go. Asked about Cabrera after the game, longtime friend, fellow home run-hitter, and carpooler Robinson Cano said, “we’re going to be making some jokes in the car.”
Igawa had a quick second inning and a passable third, but came undone again in the fourth. After a double and two quick outs (thanks to nice plays on line drives by Jeter and, believe it or not, Johnny Damon in center), Igawa walked tiny (but lovable!) .202 hitter Nick Punto, then got what he deserved: a two-run double, a single, and a tie game. Igawa recovered and made it through the fifth, but not before making thousands of viewers reflect with nostalgia on Tyler Clippard.
The Yanks then got scoreless relief from Luis Vizcaino, Scott Proctor, and Kyle Farnsworth… I feel this moment should be commemorated with some sort of plaque or official proclamation. But moving on. In the bottom of the 8th, the Twins brought in effectively twitchy submariner Pat Neshek, my choice for the final AL All-Star Vote (and I certainly wasn’t alone). With two out and Jeter on first, Matsui broke the 5-5 tie with a massive shot to right-center, and I may be wrong about this, but it seems like even though Matsui only has 10 homers this year, a lot of those have really been crushed. Rough day all around for Neshek, who also lost the 32nd All-Star vote to Hideki Okajima... but I still want a "Pitch in for Pat" t-shirt.
So it was 7-5 Yankees going into the ninth, but Mariano Rivera, thoughtful guy that he is, didn’t want fans to get bored. So decided to heighten the excitement by allowing two consecutive singles (though the second should probably have been called an error on Jeter, on a DP ball no less). He then settled down and, after a tense moment with one out, runners and second and third, and Joe Mauer at the plate, induced an RBI groundout; finally, Michael Cuddyer was called out on a somewhat questionable checked swing strikeout, ending the threat and the game. That moves Mo into a tie for third on the all-time saves list with John Franco (really? I always liked John Franco, but third all-time?). After the game, Rivera said he was thrilled with the personal milestone and determined to reach second place, and that this was just as important to him as the Yankees' record--... oh, just kidding:
"The most important thing is that we won the game," he said. " ... It's not about me."
* “What’s the pitcher’s name?” “What’s on second!” Sorry, had to get that out.
Thanks for that one - I was having a ho-hum morning until I read that and started laughing out loud.
I'm fascinated by his Baseball-Reference page which lists Suck's hits/throws as "unknown" yet his precise height (5'9") and weight (164) are recorded.
Also, forget the Mendoza line -- the Suck Line is a better barometer for suckitude, especially for catchers, which Suck was.
Suck's career line (58 games): .151/.205./.161
Wil Nieves's career line (also 58 games!): .144/.181/.182
conclusion: Nieves = Suck
"Dodgers to Play with Cox Out"
"La Leche League."
Ok, I'll go read beyond the title, now...
I wonder if that happened when Bobby Cox was playing for the Yanks? Or in Atlanta now, when Cox gets ejected?
Wilberforce is the name of one of the first universities opened for African-Americans, back in 1856 in Wilberforce, Ohio.
I've not seen a game in what feels like forever now, but I'm especially pleased that Leche's hitting the baseball.
Anyone want to weigh in on what he's doing differently?
Is he looking confident up at the bat?
15 How did that happen!
urban shocker
Stubby Clapp is also another fantastic baseball name, especially for a backup MI.
God, this weekend's going to be fugly...brace yourselves.
That's a good one, bob, tell another!
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burnsdi01.shtml
I see that Bartolo Colon is pitching tonight. If anything should make Arod feel better, I think that would be it.
A year or so ago I discovered my new favorite name: Bris Lord. As far as I know, he's the only player to be named after a circumcision rite.
But the fun doesn't stop there. His full name was Bristol Robotham Lord, which is pretty cool in its own right. And while his nickname clearly should have been "The Mohel," it was - and I'm not making this up - "The Human Eyeball." I have no idea what that means. I can't find any reference to its meaning, and the Hall of Fame research department doesn't know, either.
One final note on Bris "The Human Eyeball" Lord: Connie Mack picked him up in midseason 1910, a pennant-drive trade. Lord had the best 1-1/2 seasons of his career, helping the first great A's dynasty to back-to-back championships. To get him, Mack gave up a kid outfielder, just turned 20, who'd done nothing in two brief stints with the A's. Kid by the name of Joe Jackson.
There's also Rusty Kuntz (pronounced "Koonts." Right) and Randy Bush. Not to mention The Big Unit, our favorite 6'10" johnson.
Get with the program, RI.
However, Bris Lord really takes it to a whole new level. Thank you for that, JL... the "Human Eyeball" thing is really going to bother me, though. What a creepy unexplained nickname.
Just for once I want to see a U.S.C. (Southern California) vs. U.S.C. (South Carolina) championship:
Trojans vs. Game Cocks
http://tinyurl.com/366fmm
I can't find anything to corroborate it, but it makes sense, I guess.
Harry Child brings up a funny image.
And, as you note, no one else seems to have heard that explanation, and we have no idea where this site dug it up. Without some other source, I'm not buying it.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/coxdi01.shtml
As for the name making sense, what I pictured was a guy with a big forehead, a bushy mustache (seems like lots of guys had those back then), and a long neck (he a big forehead, so why not?). Maybe its a stretch, but that's the best I've got.
Nicknames sure were more fun back then. Today he'd be B-Lor or something similarly uncreative.
http://tinyurl.com/363jnk
45 I can't understand how anyone would think he had a high forehead. Or how an eyeball plays into it. No 'stache, so my guess is out. His head isn't particularly eye-ball shaped, so that's out. If he had really good eyesight, you'd think he would have been "Eagle Eyes" or something along those lines. I am at a loss.
OK, back to the thread. One of my favorite names, though not a baseball player (and some would say not a sports figure even), is Dick Trickle (a former NASCAR driver). Always gets me giggling (I'm childish that way).
http://tinyurl.com/24ygh2
A bris is a circumcision rite. And what does a bris result in? Why, (bear with me here) a clear view of a "one-eyed willie". No one would have ever dared call him "one-eyed willie" at the time, that would have been too blatant. So, instead, "The Human Eyeball."
I may be crazy or sleep deprived, and I have no idea where this idea came from. But I like it better than "he had a big forehead".
http://tinyurl.com/33s9cj
But it's amazing how the nickname gets under your skin, isn't it?
Similar batters? Dud Lee and Coot Veal.
I (heart) Baseball-Reference.com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/poledi01.shtml
got together with
http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kuntzru01.shtml
and ended up with
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/burnsdi01.shtml
due to a bad case of the
http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clappst01.shtml
should he go to
http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wooddo01.shtml
for a
http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/dicksjo01.shtml
1) We suddenly time-warped back to 2005.
2) Yankees give up no more than Chase Wright or Steven White (or any other players that rhyme).
3) Ensberg is intended strictly as a righty off the bench, and not in any kind of starting role.
I mean come on, he's a 31 year old two years removed from a decent year, has never played anything other than 3B, and is not eligible for free agency until after the 2008 season. Oh yeah, and he has a 2007 OPS+ only slightly higher than Miguel Cairo.
He's apparently a nice guy though...
Kiddin' of course. Nice job, dude!
Cannonball Titcomb is another beaut of a baseball name -- and what about Bill Calhoun of the 1913 Boston Braves?
They called him Mary.
Baseball Reference doesn't explain why but he hit .077 over his 13 game career.
All funny that, according to b-r.com, only three guys had nicknames involving "human": Mike Hargrove (the human rain delay), our friend Bris, and Ralph Savidge (the human ripcord).
Which raises another question. An eyeball is part of a human. So why the human eyeball?
(And, way off topic, wasn't Hargrove also known as "Grover"? Why isn't that listed as a nickname on his b-r.com page?)
Now you got me curious about that "Human Ripcord" guy... on second thought, the way this thread has been going, I'm sure I don't want to know... ;-)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/contact.shtml
So maybe he was a big talker? Or, since he seems to have more or less sucked, maybe his presence in a game led to a rapid descent?
http://tinyurl.com/26xbmy
One interesting thing about the Human Eyeball is he was traded with Shoeless Joe Jackson and then for him straight up. That deal has to rank at the top for best nickname swap combined with greatest talent disparity in one trade.
Yankee relievers by BP's WXRL (Win Expectation above Replacement, Lineup-adjusted - aka, how many wins a reliever adds above a replacement level pitcher):
Kyle, .764
Mo, .700
Viz, .635
Henn, .500
Bruney, .379
Kei, .364 (entirely from his shutdown of Boston in relief of Karstens)
Andy, .147
Villone, .028 (LEV of .23, 17.3 IP)
EDSP, .010
the "LOOGY", -.473
In summary:
Villone is contributing almost nothing, and he's pitching in garbage time almost exclusively. Why he's on the team is beyond me. Why that spot wouldn't be better used on a position player (paging Shelley Duncan for a DH trial!) is beyond me.
Krazy Kyle isn't worthless . . .
. . . but EDSP may be.
And Myers can't be dumped fast enough. Swapping in Henn in his place is worth a win immediately.
Full stats (including leverage scores and IP) at http://tinyurl.com/2tkvk4.
Jim Dean: Tag, you're in.
Also, Lord was never traded with Jackson; I'm not sure where than comes from. Nor were they traded for each other straight up - the A's actually included more in the deal. It was Morrie Rath and a PTBNL for Lord, and Jackson was sent along later to complete the trade. Rath later played for the 1919 World Champion Reds, who won the World Series against...
"Of course, Lord, whose large forehead earned him the ugly nickname "The Human Eyeball," was not a great player like Jackson, and was out of the league in 1914."
http://tinyurl.com/366fmm
we had another good funny name thread pretty recently. for the double entandra, you must include Peter Schmuck - even though he's a baseball writer and not player (baltimore sun, i believe).
some funny shit here today, you guys rock!
GO YANKS!!!
77 . . . Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox!
A couple of years ago I wrote the Hall of Fame research department. They have no idea where the nickname came from. They even checked a book they consider the Bible of nicknames, and it said "origin unknown."
Bottom line is, one website tosses off that factoid with no attribution and no confirmation.
And yeah, we went through this entire discussion above.
One reliever statistic which you might be familiar with because it's used extensively on this site is WXRL. WXRL is a metric developed by Keith Woolner which is based on a Win Expectation framework. Win Expectation has its own statistical report (the Win Expectancy Matrix), and is a pretty complicated topic, so I'll give you a bare-bones, no-math explanation. Win Expectation breaks down each game situationinning, score, number of outs, number of runners on base, and which bases they're onthat occurs in the major leagues, all to measure how the transition from one situation to another alters a team's chance of winning the game. So, within this framework, a pitcher who enters a game in a classic "save situation"ninth inning, three-run lead, bases emptyincreases his team's win expectancy if he makes it through the ninth without giving up the lead, albeit by a small amount, since the chances of victory with a three-run lead were pretty good to begin with. If the pitcher comes into the ninth with a one-run lead, no outs, and two men on, and gets out of the jam, his contribution to the team's win expectancy is considerably greater.
In WXRL the raw change in Win Expectation (the "WX" in WXRL) from the reliever's entrance to his departure is adjusted for the replacement level (the "R" in WXRL) and for strength of the opposing lineup (the "L").
The qualities of WXRL to keep in mind:
WXRL is a counting stat, measured in wins.
All WXRL values are above replacement levelany below replacement-level performances have negative values.
WXRL accounts for inherited and bequeathed runners.
Leverage matters. A reliever who comes into high-leverage situations will accumulate more WXRL than a player who pitches just as well in garbage time.
"Weeping for Brunnhilde" is obviously a fan of the Ring cycle - and no, I don't mean Frodo. I'm a big fan of the Ring cycle as well, but I have far less sympathy for Brunnhilde.
I assume that "cult of basebaal" is a play on words referring to Ba'al, a cult god commom (in various forms) in the ancient Middle East. (Wasn't he the male counterpart of Ashtaroth?)
Mehmattski? I have no freakin' idea.
1) If Farns walks the lead-off batter, does he get extra credit for working out of a man on/no out jam?
2) If Farns enters a tie game and gives up 4 runs, does each run get assigned to tie game leverage, or is leverage reduced with each run he allows?
WXRL is the change in expected runs due to the reliever's performance. As such, it matters very much the kinds of situations he comes to pitch in--and whether his good outings were in high or low leverage situations.
A simple example. A pitcher appears in two games. He gets lit up for 3 runs in one inning of work in game A, strikes out the side in game B.
Now consider two different game situations:
Situation 1: 1 run lead, bottom of the ninth. Assume win probability
upon entering is 80%.
Situation 2: Down by 12 runs, bottom of the 7th. Assume win
probability upon entering is 5%.
Combining the games and situations, there are two possibilities: A1,B2 or A2,B1.
A1: Blows a tight game, and his team loses. The reliever's win
expectation for this appearance is 0% - 80% = -0.800
B2: Pitches a perfect inning, but the game is pretty much
hopeless. Maybe the team has a 7% chance of coming back now. Win
expectation for this game is 7% - 5% = +0.020
The pitcher's combined WX for these two games is -0.800 + 0.020 = -0.780. Let's look at the other case:
A2: Pitcher shuts down the other team to preserve a clutch win. WX =
100% - 80% = +0.200
B1: Pitcher puts them further into an already deep hole. Suppose Win
probability drops to 4%. WX = 4% - 5% = -0.010
Pitcher's combined WX for the second case is +0.200 - 0.010 = +0.190.
A pitcher's performance in higher leverage situations will have a larger effect on his WX (and WXRL) than his performances in low leverage situations. Game A was very high leverage, Game B was very low leverage. And his performance in Game A pretty much determined his actual game value over that span.
WXRL is a way to assess past performance, usage, and game importance. But it is not independent of how and where a pitcher is used. A better measure for that would be Adjusted Runs Prevented (ARP), which takes into account only how a pitcher performed, not the leverage of the situation, but does consider inherited and bequeathed runners fairly in doing so. Hope that helps.
http://tinyurl.com/yw937m
Have a looksee... if you dare...
http://tinyurl.com/2edpz2
http://tinyurl.com/ynobey
http://tinyurl.com/2c5u8h
I tried in vain to find a picture of that dude with the third eye on his forehead.
Wasn't Rod Serling supposed to be ahead of his time and not behind it? So, I doubt that those guys had the third eye thing in mind when they came up with the nickname... unless, Bris was actually an alien from Venus who had already set up a colony here and intercepted the Martians... Hmmm, maybe we are on to something now, where's Jim "ET" Dean when we need him?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye
If we could find anything about Lord's background, maybe williamnyy23 is correct in thinking that it's a reference to the Third Eye, and if Lord had one, it would be huge, given his giant forehead.
That had me laughing out loud in my cube. Nice.
Good info at 83.
Here's the main thing I don't like abut WXRL. It allows the game situation to have too much impact. If you looked at 1000 innings, then this shouldn't matter, and in fact in theory it ought to be better than a stat that doesn't allow 'leverage' to make an impact, because it could be that some pitchers are great in high-pressure situations and some are particularly bad (worse than they usually are). Yankee fans will find this easy to believe.
But for smaller sample sizes, the leverage is just more noise. Now we have to worry not only about 'random fluctuations', but also about a further randomish factor that's getting mixed in. In short, with more noise the n has to be even larger to get significant results.
As cult of basebaal says, it's fine as a measure of past performance, but much worse (with small n) as a predictor.
BP's sortable stats are awesome, btw, fer instance ... i can tell you that 31 of the 33 innings Krazy has pitched have been whole innings, that he has inherited NO baserunners (cause he never comes in to someone else's inning) and that he has only bequeathed 7 runners (in those appearances where he doesn't finish the inning) ... only 1 of those inherited runners scored
That's seems ahead of his time to me... or maybe everyone else was doing that on early 60's television.
I can't wait to hear this one.
Soundgarden "Searching With My Good Eye Closed"
chris cornell is a god
YANKEES
Damon LF
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Abreu RF
Cano 2B
Phillips 1B
;-)
I'm not sure why Damon is leading off. I guess because "he's more comfortable there"?
;-)
Oh, you thought I was talking about something else...
;-)
This, to me, is a sort of "get ready for next year" move. The Yankees need to determine whether Damon can play left field and first base. Then next year you use him as a sort of super utility player at 1B, LF, CF and DH.
I hope he's right.
And can someone pontificate on the greater meaning of "My Mother the Car"?
1) Damon = Nancy arm
2) Matsui = Bad fielder
1 + 2 = 3
3) Damon in LF; Matsui at DH.
Now the leadoff thing 118 - who can figure. A-Rod struggles and he gets dropped to eight. Damon struggles? He's the leadoff hitter.
Also, because I'm surprised no one's brought it up yet, let me just add: Tim Spooneybarger.
Zhenwang Zhang (catcher): He is only 5-10 and doesn't look like a baseball player whatsoever. Cashman only spoke about his defensive ability. Zhang prides himself on throwing out runners. He played for China in the World Baseball Classic.
But (in case you're interested) the full phrase comes from Augustine, who in his Confessions bemoaned the fact that as a youth he "wept for Dido, Queen of Carthage" and yet shed not a tear for his own benighted soul, estranged as it was from the love of God.
Well, I was writing a paper on this, trying to address (broadly) why Augustine was so repulsed by the idea of sympathizing with what he later judged to be a broken character, undeserving of sympathy.
Around the same time I finally managed to get to see a performance of Wagner's Die Walkure and indeed, I wept for Brunnhilde.
It's been my screen name for a couple of years now.
So there you have it, more than you ever wanted to know about Augustine and the origins of one man's handle.
:)
Although, on my drive home today, I hit upon another possible solution. The Human Eyeball wouldn't seem all that unusual as an apellation for Sun Ra - and did anyone ever see Bris Lord and Sun Ra together? Kinda makes you think, no?
Now, the real question is whether this is to serve as the Game Thread.
I vote yes, because Emma's non-game thread Game Threads are lucky and God knows, we can use all the luck we can get with these confounded Californias.
When I was a kid I remember reading about Rod Carew and how he would often bunt to break himself out of a slump.
Good old Rod Carew.
Apparently in Japan, he used to sit behind the plate wearing a costume he stole from backstage at "A Chorus Line." It was frickin' bizarre. Totally did not look like a baseball player.
It's a little known fact that in Japan he used to take the field wearing an ornate hat made of tropical fruit, and a coconut bra.
Totally did not look like a baseball player.
Ba-dump-bump!
What's he got a third eye on his large forehead or something...
If you want some more humor, or perhaps horror, go look at the box score for game 1 of the C. Sox-Twinkies game today, specifically, Garland's line...
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, Earth
2007: 52-33, 1st AL West
Pythagorean Record (49-36)
The Angels are basically the same team that came swept the Yankees out of the Stadium at the end of May. The only difference being that sophomore catcher Mike Napoli is injured and Jose Molina has assumed his playing time. Macier Izturis has also taken some playing time from Howie Kendrick at 2B.
Rob Quinlan gets the start at first thanks to his extreme split versus lefties.
Did you really think Cliff wouldn't put a new thread up? Wannabe.
But, a W is a W, I guess.
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