Golden Age of Baseball?

One of the more interesting and greatly debatable topics I like to bring up in conversations about baseball these days is the question of whether we now are in a golden age of baseball. Old timers have their arguments agaisnt this because of course nobody can live up to their heroes of the days of yore - Joltin' Joe, Pudge, the Babe, Lou Brock, the Say-hey Kid, et alii. Other modern fans point to the steroids problem of the last decade, which many believe extends to this day with newer undetectable steroids entering the game through player's bodies. Still another group of modern day baseball haters look at rhe financial monster that the sport has become - rising salaries with consequent lack of team loyalty due to free agency, owners trying to turn profits, more expensive seats and luxury box-filled stadiums, and the growing desparity beteen baseball's rich [Yankees 192 million dollar payroll] and poor [Marlins 17 million dollar payroll].

But lets look at some other facts that might sway the baseball fan more to the appreciation of what is going on in the game.

Record Attendance
We, for the past two years and likely this year again, have had record attendance throughout baseball. More fans are showing up to the parks and seeing the games. Kids are getting to go to parks with their gloves on hoping for foul balls to reach them, adults are able to see the emerald field and recall their youth, and everyone gets to have a fun time for just a few hours. As expensive as this might be one can still buy tickets in Yankee stadium for 10 dollars, and even less on certain promotional days. Other stadia all have similarly affordable seats as well, and twenty dollars for a father and son to spend a few quality hours today isn't so bad. You spend that much going to the movies these days, and thats not nearly as entertaining. The food and drinks can be expensive but most stadia also allow you to bring your own as long as it is in a clear plastic bag.

Great Players
Moreso than at any time in my lifetime, and perhaps more than any time in baseball's history we have a huge number of really all-time great players in the game today. Not only are these players putting up better numbers, but they are doing it against better competition from more locations due to baseball's growing worldwide popularity. Also these players are far more fit than many of their predecessors and thus contribute to a more exciting game. A quick look around the league shows us an example of the great that are around the league: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Mariano Rivera, Greg Maddux, and Barry Bonds [who with or without steroids would be an all time great]. There are perhaps more than these, but it is too early to tell for some players and the steroid cloud hangs over others, but these guys are all no-doubters.

More Information
Not only do we baseball fans go to more games now and get to see a better product when we go, but we actually get to experience and follow the game in myriad more ways than at any other time in baseball's history. If we just look at following a single particular game we can see some of what I am talking about. We can follow any game we want on television, local radio for our home team, internet radio broadcasting, internet televised broadcasting, satellite radio, and gamecasters and real time box scores from a bevvy of sites. This is just following the game and keeping track of what is going on. It does not even begin to bring up the level of statistical analysis, baseball coverage and discussion, chat rooms, call-in shows, and yes -baseball blogs that are at the average fan's disposal too. Every baseball fan can because of all this information become just as informed as any coach or broadcaster involved in the sport. It is a great time to be a fan because we can literally be part of the sport.

Fantasy Baseball
Thanks must go out to those guys who were playing this game in the early eighties at La Rotisserie. If not for them the whole country would not be swept by the fantasy craze making it that much more interesting to follow sports and to feel like a GM. Before when your home team wasn't playing or wasn't in the hunt during the season anymore there was little point to pay any attention to baseball anymore except for the sheer enjoyment of it. Now with the fantasy revolution we have a vested interest in other games in the eague allowing us to not only appreciate the game more, but to be better informed about the league. Not only this but playing fantasy baseball is just plain fun. And it could not be played if baseball wasnt as great as it is.

So as I see it baseball really is in a golden age now. Sure there are some bad things, but there always have been. Owners have always looked for only profit. There have always been scandals and black eyes on baseball: the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the lack of integration until 1947, the cheating and greenies and red juice being used throughout the history of baseball, and the gambling of Pete Rose.We can't let these things take away from what is really good about the game though, and there is a lot of good to go around these days.

We're taking off for the Paschal Holidays. We'll be back up and running on Monday with a nice new post, enjoy!

Bob Sheppard: Voice of the Yankees

If there is one voice that can be associated with any team any event or anything in baseball at all, it is the voice of Bob Sheppard, the Yankee Stadium announcer. He has a particular gusto to his voice that is unparalleled. I can't say what it would be like watching a game at Yankee stadium without him announcing the names. That's because I'm only 24 years old. It's not that I haven't gone to games all my life, I 've gone as long as I can remember, and Sheppard has been announcing all that time. In fact, Sheppard has been announcing more than double that time, since 1951. I don't know if everyone grasps this so I will let it sink in.

Bob Sheppard has announced every openeing day from 1951 until last year's 2005 home opener. This year he missed because of a serious injury we all hope he comes back from soon. What this means for those of you out there who stil don't grasp how long his tenure has been, is that Sheppard announced the Yankee stadium debut of every Yankee from Mickey Mantle, to Thurman Munson, to Reggie Jackson, to Don Mattingly, to Derek Jeter, to Robinson Cano. Every Yankee. He was announcing during the great Home Run race in 1961 and was still announcing during the second and thrid home run races of 1998 and 2001! That doesn't impres you? How about this? Sheppard was announcing three years before Hank Aaron ever stepped onto a ballfield, let alone hit his first of 755 home runs. He is still announcing as Barry Bonds, a player who didn't come to the majors until ten years after Hank Aaron retired, is approaching Aaron and Ruth's home run marks himself. The history this man has seen and been a part of at Yankee stadium is unbelievable. His announcing skills are obviously great too.

Here's hoping he gets well soon and we can here that rich deep voice over the loudspeakers shaping the words "Derek Jeter" the way they are supposed to sound, the only way anyone has ever heard them sound in Yankee stadium before yesterday.

Big Contracts for Big 1Bs

Two big-time highlight reel baseball players signed huge contracts with their historically popular clubs yesterday to extend their stays with their teams 4 and 5 years respectively. More coincidentally both of these players were MVP runners-up last year, had solid- though not overwhelming careers in the years leading up to last year, both came into the league in 1997, both are 30 and both are first basemen [we'll give Papi the benefit of the doubt on this one and allow him a real position]. There seems to be a story here: A tale of two 1Bs.

Derrek Lee before last season was someone that many of us remembered as being part of that corps of Florida players acquired after their first fire-sale in 1997 who then went on to be a significant offensive impact in leading the Marlins to their second World Series championship in 2003. We knew him among a group of players, as part of a team, but not a top-of-the-game player.

David Ortiz is a slightly different story. We knew him well before last year. He was fresh in our memory as one of the players who led the Red Sox to their first World Series chamiponship since before the time that the Yankees won their first of 26. He had very impressive numbers in 2004 to go along with his ring. But just one year before that Ortiz, big as he is, was not on many people's radars.

Both these players had good careers before the past few years. Ortiz had, in his three full seasons played, hovered around a .280 BA, a .360 OBP, averaged a .510 slugging percentage and had very good, though not necessarily notable, power numbers for home runs, doubles and RBIs. Lee had, in more full seasons, averaged .280, got on base at a .360 clip, slugged .500, and had virtually identical numbers to Ortiz in doubles. He outhomered Ortiz a bit in this time and also had a few more RBIs. Neither of these players were slouches and both made a sizeable contribution to any lineup, but it wasn't until last year that Lee broke out adn brought his game to the next level. Ortiz beat him there by a year, but even he crushed his previous year's stats with last year's MVP- eligible performance.

Lee crushed opposing pitching batting .335 last year while getting on base nearly 42% of the time -thats good. While Ortiz only hit .300 he still reached base safely 40% of the time he came up to the plate. Lee obviously wasn't hitting dribblers and bloops sneaking by infielders to get on base according to the evidence, because he slugged .662 last year hitting 50 doubles and 46 HRs. Ortiz followed suit in keeping up with the Joneses, er, Lees. He slugged .604 with 40 doubles and 47 HRs. Though it would appear Lee kept up with and then surpassed Ortiz, lets not forget that Ortiz knocked in 148 runs last year while Lee knocked in just 107. Overall the contributions of these two men offensively were pretty equal last year as they have been throughout their careers. Both men also only gained notability upon settling into a new surrounding after a season that brought them onto a bigger stage. People also really began to see their value when each was a big part of their team's World Championship run.

One has to wonder if these two players' fates are inextricably linked somehow. Not only are all the preceeding similarities the case, but despite the great seasons put up by each of these guys, each finished as runner up to a better and more established player. Both of these guys could consistently end up being the second best hitters in their leagues for years to come because Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, two legends in their own time, are entrenched playing for each of these 1B's rival teams.

Though each were paid relatively well up to this point, Ortiz at 5.5 million/year, Lee at 7 million/year, they now both have great new contracts which recognize the type of player they are. Lee has 5 years and 65 million awaiting him with the Cubs now averaging out at 13 million per year, while Ortiz is getting 4 years and 52 million averaging out at...lo and behold 13 million per year. And people say there's no equality in baseball. The end of the story for these two men lies years in the future, we can only wonder and hope that their careers continue to mirror each other in two of the most legendary cities and ballparks in the MLB.

Whither Johan Santana?

Before all you fantasy owners who went out and wasted a first round pick on Johan Santana get all nervous and in a tizzy, remember, it is still early and he has at least 33 more starts to go if he is healthy. But Johan Santana has sure not looked like the Cy Young winning pitcher of 2004 and the should-have-won-the-Cy-over-that-pig-Bartolo-Colon-pitcher of 2005. In fact he has not even looked close.

Santana has lost both of his first two decisions. This much most of us will have realized by now. But we should acknowledge that a loss isn't always necessarily a pitcher's fault, in fact it is often not [Exhibit A: Tom Glavine]. But there are more disturbing numbers below the surface on these losses that might be a cause for concern if they continue. Santana's ERA for the first game was 6.35, which is fine if you're... well scratch that that just isn't a good ERA in any league or at any level. Thankfully in his second start Santana improved, though not by much, he posted a 5.06 ERA. We can say this, at least he is headed in the right direction, but our expectations were to have a Santana ERA closer to one than to seven, and that hasn't happened yet either.

Beyond those ERAs, which some people might chalk up to fluky play or exceptionally mean official scorers we can look at some other stats over those two starts. Santana threw 98 and 100 pitches in each of his games, which is about what managers and pitching coaches are limiting their pitchers to these days. But when he reached these counts is more of a concern. He wasn't pitching into the 7th and 8th inning, and actually hasn't even finished the 6th yet, yikes! His innings pitched have been 5.1 and 5.2 respectively. Santana has also given up a home run in each of his outings, which is okay as long as he doesn't give one up in his next two, then there is serious cause for concern. The other really frightening numbers, I'm talking Albert Pujols at the plate with the winning run on second -frightening, are his batting average against and OPS against. Facing lefties Santana has been respectable though not stellar with a .250 BA and .690 OPS against. But righties seem to have Santana figured out batting .324 agaisnt him with a .910 OPS. To put that in perspective righties are making a collective early run at the MVP when batting against Santana.

The two encouraging things to report are that Santana allowed only four hits in his second start, and hasn't been walking many people. Also these outings were against Toronto and Cleveland, which, though not the strongest, are not the weakest lineups in the league. Here's hoping JoSa gets better real soon.

Surprising Beginnings in the Mid-West

Though I use my now regular cautiously optimistic voice when making this proclamation... has anyone noticed how great two teams that have struggled for years are doing? I speak of one team, roaring back into contention in their division from the cellar of the AL Central, the Detroit Tigers. I mention another, slowly regaining its strength through a good farm system and fine pitching, the Milwaukee Brewers. These two midwestern facotry towns- one for automobiles, the other for beer- have regained new life following much of the same philosophy. They have both been steadily developing yound pitching and a few good young players in their farm systems, while making good trades and free agent signings to fill the holes. One should not underestimate the success that these teams will have over the next few years by following these clear plans. After not finishing with a .500 record for over ten years the Brewers did so last year and look to improve this year. The Tigers have had the same trouble and still not resurfaced from the sub-.500 abyss but look to do so this season. In the next few years both these teams will be competitors, and for doing nothing more than following a very simple philosophy and getting good coaching together. Of course they may not get to the playoffs for a couple of years, and may never win World Series rings, but these two teams will have made leaps greater than any other team this season. Its about time someone noticed these two cities with fine baseball traditions that have fallen by the wayside in recent years.

Bombers Living up to Their Name

Its a new rite of spring. Every year for the past three the Yankees have gotten off to an incredibly slow start. This year appears to be going the same for them. I will admit we are only four games into the season, but to have only won one game is depressing. They are truly earning the name that jeering Yankee-hating fans use: the Tankees. Well the one solace I have is that its still early, and the rite of fall that has followed this depressing rite of spring is that they always end up working it out in the end. I just hope the pattern continues itself so we can complete the drive for number 27.

The Effects of Vitamin-S on the Body of Baseball

As we showed yesterday, we here at Outta Left Field like to think of baseball as a living thing, a body, if you will. Like any body it has its parts. Baseball, being so big, has many parts, but many of these individual organs and limbs and extremities can be classified into larger systems, just like any other body. As we see it, there are four main systems in the body of baseball. These are the executive system, comprised of the front offices, owners, managers and coaches of teams, as well as the management of baseball overall; the press system which is composed of all those members of the press corps who report on baseball at all its different levels and in all the far-reaching parts of the globe; the player system which is made up of all the baseball players at all different levels of professional ball, and all those players who aspire to that aim, but may not be there yet; and finally the fans system comprised of all of us fans out here watching and reading about baseball as part of the cycle's of our seasons.

Like any body, when something is added to it, be it good or bad, there is an effect on at least some of the systems that form the body, if not all of those systems. The intoduction of steroids and HGH, codenamed as vitamin-S for years during the steroid ridden late eighties to early aughties, had such an effect on baseball. It had such a far reaching effect that we are still trying to figure out what happened, where it happened, when it happened, and to whom it happened. Well, I will act like one white blood cell here trying to figure out the diagnosis and attempting the cure in this space today.

The logical system to start with is that of the players. Well, the introduction of steroids had various effects on the players, depending of course on what type of player it was. For some big league players, the ones who injected, rubbed, popped, or swallowed steroids onto their persons the effect was higher homerun totals, higher radar gun readings, more doubles, more Ks, less fatigue, and more strength. Conversely, these players also got to experience the joy of back acne, increasing jaw and necklines, decreasing testicles, and a bevvy of other health concerns in their own bodies. Other big leaguers, who didn't use, were affected differently. They had to try to keep up and compete as teamates and opponents got bigger, better, and more able to withstand the grind than themselves. When it came to contract years these non-users had to convince themselves that their integrity was more important than their monetary future and their statistics. They had to decide if they could still compete in a league that was increasingly turning into supermen. For players from around the world not yet in the league, and trying to break in, the story was very much the same. Should they use steroids and risk their health in order to get drafted or make the big club? Or should they not do them and rely on their own abilities, and hope those are enough to ge them into the league while so many of the people they were competing with were using? Those who did use may well have entered the league and become productive players, those who didnt might have been better but just not willing to sacrifice their health and morals to live out their dreams. This is something they and the rest of us in the body of baseball will never really know. The effect of all this is that a tough testing program was established in 2005 and we still had 12 majr leaguers test positive including one suprstar. One can only imagine how bad the problem was before. But it appears to be getting better and there is an even tougher policy now, being paired alongside the new McCarthy, oops Mitchell commission to try to hunt down any users in the past and get at truth which they will never find. But the players of the era now have more to worry about than their increasing numbers and their contracts, like health, getting caught, and missing the hall of fame.

The executives are obviously next in the logical progression here. From Managers to GMs to scouts to baseball executives, many of whom have been around the game their entire lives, there must have been clear signs of the rise in steroid usage. They must hve heard the rumors, known what the doctors said, seen the evidence, and some maybe even condoned it. What it seems that all did though was to turn a blind eye. Why did they do this? The biggest effect the steroid era had on the management was that it made them more money. In the top level of baseball the league began to thrive and capture people's imaginations again. As Home Runs began soaring out of parks at record rates people began to fill the stands to catch those record-breaking balls. Television coverage went up, higher ticket prices were charged, and more revenue could be made on the sale of merchandise. Why should owners, managers, and executives have cared about making sure players weren't using illegal steroids tht weren't even banned from the game? They had to worry about their own financial well being first, and knew the players were grown men who could make their own decisions. But now, many of the management still don't acknowledge their fault in this, which would be fine if they did not acknowledge that it was a problem. Many of them now say though that they think it is terrible and it takes integrity away from the game, while at the same time still taking no fault. This is a problem, and their is no solution for the management.

The system of press was affected in two major ways. There were those who covered the records as they were broken and thrived on baseball's new-found popularity, and there were those who attempted to break the steroids story only to get silenced until these days when people are willing to listen, in the post-steroid era. The press had to and still has to think about their access to player, managers, GMs, and everyone else in the game when they wrote about steroids. If they broke stories about players would other players shut them out? Would they get access to anyone inside the circle of trust that is the MLB? Would anyone in the audience even listen to them? Others had enough good stories going with so many home runs being hit and so many pitchers winning more and more Cy Youngs that they didn't care what was going on besides as long as they got theiir story. Now that people care however, the media is reporting more and more on it. And this is actually to their credit. Their job is to inform and they are doing so, however late. And many are taking blame for not reporting before. But the question remains do they have to continue reporting on it, or now that we know enough,c an they move on?

We the fans were affected in different ways ourselves. We first got to see some of the most exciting years in baseball pass before our eyes. We watched two record breaking seasons for home runs. We watched as sluggers averaged more home runs than we could ever dream possible. We saw more 100 MPH pitchers than any other era. We enjoyed it. We flocked to the games. Sure we heard the rumors, we suspected things ourselves, we even read one or two press reports from those reporters who were being responsible at the time, but we didn't care. Now that the collective reaction of the body of baseball has shifted though, many of us act outraged. We act as though we can't believe what is going on, as though we are entirely innocent and surprised by all this truth coming out. We call for astrices and bans from the hall of fame and tell-all books. But really as fans these things should not matter to us. We should want the truth, but we shouldn't be calling for an asterix or a blot on the whole era. The fact is that this is what baseball was. This is also something that, as fans we remember. Many of the players throughout the history of baseball have had their problems. Ty Cobb was no peach, the Bambino was not perfect, Mickey Mantle drank too much, countless players cheated on their wives, countless others cheated on the field. These players all still belong in the books though because they were part of the living being that is baseball. They should have marks or scars on them to call them out just because we are outraged that we got swept up as fans. We will alwasy know, and always be able to tell our sons and daughters as we turn through the pages of Baseball Almanacs and tour through the halls of Cooperstown, that yeah Barry Bonds had a great season in 2001, some people say he did steroids, others say he didn't, but no matter what, he still outperformed all the other players of his and any other era.

The injection of steroids into baseball changed the way we all experience the game, but it has not affected us in any really significant way. Popularity of the sport has not gone down, fans have not stopped attending, press corps have not gotten smaller, Owners have not gotten poorer, and players have not stopped performing. Why can't we just move on from this era of baseball, remembering what was good, keeping in mind what was bad, but moving on nonetheless?

The Biology of Baseball

When did managing become so damned hard? Was it the intorduction of free agency and multi-million dollar salaries and payrolls that brought on the difficulty? Was it the first time a DH stepped up to the plate in the AL that made it such a hard job? Or has it always been so hard to come up with a formula for winning a baseball contest. The guess here is that it probably was this hard the day the New York Nine played the New York Knickerbockers at Elysian Fields back in the nineteenth century.
The problem with coming up with a winning formula for baseball is that baseball isn't physics or chemistry or gemometry. It cannot be the subject of a hard scientific axiom. There is too much life in it. Not only does the game itself have a life, which grows and changes and develops moment by moment, but individual contests and even more so individual players have lives which go through the same mutations, all at different rates and many of them -unpredictably so. Just look at Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. Two years ago these two were no questions asked the best players in the National league, two years ago their combined age was 80! Who would have thought a sport dominated by yound men, a sport when hitters reach their peaks at 27, would be dominated by two guys near 40? Nobody can predict such performance, and so no shard facts can be stated about the way the contests will play out, the way the league will develop, or the way players will grow or decline. If this could be devised then we'd all be out there reading about it making tons of money on our fantasy teams.
GMs can't therefore, just enter in the formula in a little machine and say okay well our club has x amount of money to spend, we need y and z types of players to compete, and preferably v,w,y and z to win it all, so who's available to us? Managers likewise can't enter a calculation into little machines of their own and say ok in this situation we need this situation we need this outcome and to get there we just need to find the variable in the equation, which is the proper player to put in. Baseball, for all its numbers, just isnt made like that. By its nature it is not subject to specific formulae.
Does this mean everyone has to throw their hands up in the air and say "well, we can't really do anything to affect the outcome, so lets just do nothing"? Of course not. While nobody can concretely predict the outcome of a baseball game, or the course a team will take over a number of years, or how a player will develop, there are trends, and there are ways to at least passively check if a player is matching any of those trends. In short, though baseball is not physics or geometry or chemistry, it might be rather akin to biology.
You see biology studies life, and studies the way it changes and grows. It studies the different patterns life takes, and indeed the exceptions to every one of those patterns that exist in every form of life. After making such observations it comes up with rules, soft rules of course, because the first thing it realizes is that the subject of its study -life- can predictably do one thing throughout its many forms -change.
If baseball is approached this way, then we have a certain ability to notice trends, see skill in some individual that is like someone else's skill, and apply our knowledge to that with the full idea in mind that we are not guaranteeing a certain outcome by taking a certain player in free agency, by calling for a certain pitcher in a certain game, or by introducing a certain rule into the sport of baseball in general. What we or rather what managers and GMs and other baseball executive types are doing by applying this biological study to baseball is attempting to make our desired outcome more likely by believing in the science that studies baseball.
As it happens, like biology, the results are at times inconclusive as to how one might act in certain situations, because things change and sometimes they change so dramatically there is nothing anyone can say. This is why it is so difficult for decision makers in baseball to make the right decisions all the time, there are just so many abberations that the rules of the science, which are flexible anyway, must be flexed even further.
Of course there are studies of baseball. There have been forever. There are two main schools in the baseball world now however. Both of these are biological studies at their heart, but one might say one (traditional style) is a more anthropological study based on the observation of living things by other living things, and the other (sabermetrics) is more laboratory-based examining the numbers of the product of what these living things do and drawing their prized information from there. Some baseball teams take a liking to both styles of study, others prefer only one and viciously hate the other school of baseball research.
There are arguments to be made for each one of these studies, but like biological research, no school of study is perfect. The traditionalists, with Baseball America, Joe Morgan, the Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, baseball scouts, and many others behind them will point to how their systen has worked for so long. It isn't as if the common wisdom and trends used for decades in baseball have just sprung from one generation of scouts, they have sprung from generations of scouting and playing baseball games and observing the trends in outcomes both at large and situationally. Also, they point to the continued success of their system. In an age where more and more teams are espousing sabermetrics, only one arguably has gone on to win the world series, the 2004 Boston Red Sox. Only two such teams have even reached the post season, though both with a degree of regularity, Oakland and Boston.
The Sabermetricians and their adherents -Baseball Prospectus, the Oakland A's under Billy Beane, the Boston Red Sox under Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer with the help of Bill James, the Cleveland Indians under Mark Shapiro, the Toronto Blue Jays under J.P. Ricciardi, and recently the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers- can make their own case. Once Beane was able to impose his system and take over drafts, he has had an astonishing rate of success at producing talent out of his farm system. The same goes for the Red Sox, though we are just seeing the first fruits of their effort develop now, and the Indians, which have the same issues. The other teams that subscribe fairly exclusively to statistical analysis of baseball have either changed to this method too recently or simply gotten unlucky with certain of the mutations in players and the sport, it is argued. The Dodgers of last year were also one of the teams under a Sabermetrician GM, and he as well as others believed they were poised to win many games until the unpredictable and unprecedented happened in the living organism that is baseball- a huge amount of players (10) missed a large portion of the season. Besides this though the regular season totals piled up by the As and the Red Sox and Indians are rather impressive evidence. The Blue Jays too, while not competing in the same class made strides to improve under the sabermetric science. The other teams remain to be seen, but all could be poised for big upswings in performance as the new school of biological observation displaces the old in each of these clubs.
The criticisms the sabermetricians hold against the traditionalists is that they don't reduce the game to what it takes to win and lose, but rather concern themselves with aspects of the game that really contribute very little to the outcome. They say that if one looks at baseball one sees that two things are most necessary to win a baseball game: runs and run prevention. That is one team has to score runs and prevent the other team from scoring if that team wishes to come out on top. All their statistics and averages are concerned with these two goals. Meanwhile the traditionalists are concerned with lots of other aspects of how a player performs, how durable that player seems, if the player can bunt, or steal bases, or throw hard, or do many things that do not themselves directly contribute significantly to making runs and saving runs, they say.
So even among those biological scientists who study the game so hard and devote their lives to it there is no concensus on what the proper action is in any given moment of a game, in the course of a season, or even in the growth of a player. This is because it all comes back to the recognition by the biological scientists that, above all, the living game they study and know so well changes.
SO next time you want to question a managers move to the bullpen, or a GMs trade for a guy you see no value in, remember that lightning does strike, and sometimes it strikes twice, but often there is no lightning at all.

Newcomers Coming up Big

Introductions of new free agent singnings, young prospects called up to the big club, and recent trade acquisitions still rank as some of the most exciting days in the life of any club. Because of the relatively small size of a club's active roster [25 men], any addition is going to change the complexion of the club both by who the new player is, and by who they are not [namely the former player occupying that roster spot]. Mostly though, we wait for that day when they make their debut in the brand spanking new uniform of their new teams. We want to know how they will perform.
If they are free agent signings- will they work their magic on our field the same way they did on their last club? How will being another year older and in a different surrounding atmosphere effect their play? These questions arose this year with people like Johnny Damon, Kyle Farnsworth, Frank Thomas, Kevin Millwood, Bengie Molina, and BJ Ryan inter alii.

When the players are new prospects coming up, either for a debut or for the start of their first full season in the big leagues, then we wonder about different things- will these guys be able to produce? What do those AAA or AA numbers translate to on a major league ballfield? Can they sustain their abilities over 162 games? Did we strike lightening in a bottle? These questions are asked this year of Matt Murton, Jeremy Hermida, Ryan Zimmerman, Brian Anderson, and to a lesser extent Chien Ming Wang. There are others too coming up later this year that will face similar anticipation from fans and front offices alike.

Those players who are the result of trades perhaps face the most nervous scrutiny by the fans when they are making their debuts for their new clubs. Immediately the fans think of what this player is doing and how it compares to what the former player is doing at once. No team front office and no fanbase wants to feel like they were the losers in any particular deal, so they hope and pray for a seven inning shutout performance by a pitching trade acquisition, and a three-run home run from a newly acquired offensive player. The fanbase in Boston was no doubt anticipating Coco Crisp's Red Sox debut. Similarly the Texas Rangers were anticipating Brad Wilkerson's first appearance at the Banbox in Arlington, while the Nationals were hoping Alfonso Soriano wouldn't clothesline Jose Vidro running full speed outta left field to reclaim his old position in the infield. Javier Vazquez, Troy Glaus, Lyle Overbay, and others were and are still going to be scrutinized heavily by us fans as the early part of the season unfolds.

If the beginnign of the season is any indication, then a few fan bases and a few GMs are letting out little puffs of air that'll turn into sighs of relief come Memorial day.

Tomorrow, more baseball.

5 Notes on the First Full Day of Baseball Games


1. Watch out for the Old Guys:
Four pitchers yesterday with a combined age of around 160 pitched absolutely beautiful games yesterday. This is no small matter considering the scores of most of yesterday's games [see number 5 below].

Tom Glavine handed the ball off to Aaron Heilman after six innings of work for the other team in New York having let up only 1 run on 6 hits. He also walked only three during his time on the mound while striking out five. Going into his next start with a 1.50 ERA has gotta feel pretty good for Tommy.

Not to be outdone by his neighbor in Queens, Randy Johnson must have decided to show everyone who he thinks the best 40-something pitcher in the league is. Out in California, Randy pounded the A's for seven innings before letting Tanyon Sturtze have a crack at them. During the Big Unit's tenure on the mound he let up just 5 hits and 1 run [coming on a Big Hurt homer, making it the biggest pitcher-batter duel I can think of]. Making it even more impressive, Randy walked nobody, even though he didn't have his trademark Ks [3] ready for his first game of the season. Johnson's session left him with a miniscule 1.29 ERA going into his next outing.

Though Kenny Rogers wasn't exactly going up against such a vaunted team as the A's, his stint on the mound against the Royals helped this new Tiger earn his stripes. Before Joel Zumaya -the hottest new pitcher to come out of Detroit's recently created young-pitcher factory- took over, Rogers gave the Tigers a solid 6 innings of work. The old man had to show his young rotation-mates that sometimes newer doesn't mean better; sometimes the oldest things become classics- just ask anyone in Detroit. Rogers allowed just three hits and one run while knocking out five Royals before he departed with his 1.50 ERA in tow. Performances like that will surely make him a crowd favorite.

Meanwhile, down in the Lone Star state Curt Schilling of the red sox -the team and the blood-stained baseball apparel- was working on his own memorandum to the league entitled "Do not forget me". There is no doubt after yesterday's performance in Homer Haven [Ameriquest Field] that the league will not overlook the prominent pitcher any longer. Schilling went seven long innings in Texas allowing only 5 hits and 2 runs. He also walked 1 and struck out 5. And, in a great feat in that ballpark Schilling left giving up only one HR [to Hank Blalock] and registering a 2.57 ERA. Though they might be older than most of the players they face, these pitchers can teach the batters a thing or two about what it takes to win.

2. That's Why They Call Them MVPs:
Last year's biggest contender's for the league MVP races started their campaigns for 2006 early yesterday. Albert Pujols, David Ortiz, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Lee and Andruw Jones all showed up for their teams in big ways helping them to win. There is no doubt that a few more performances like these will have their respective fan's chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P" in no time.

Pujols impressed in his first game this season. He helped his team overcome the Phillies by doing little things, that is, if you consider little things going 2-2 with 2HRs, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 RBI. The perennial statistical monster just continued doing what he does best -everything. Though that 1.000 avg won't last, its sure nice to walk away with after one game of the season.

David Ortiz didn't leave his 2004 -Championship -teamate Schilling on his own to win the game in Texas. Ortiz added some of his own special brand of firepower as well. He went 3-5, scoring twice, driving in 3 while blasting a homer and a double. This seems to be all in a days work for Ortiz, as he continues to murder balls anywhere near the plate.

Alex Rodriguez seems to have been a little bit confused. Alex must have thought he had to beat the Oakland A's all by himself, forgetting that he has one of the most powerful lineups ever surrounding him. I don't think they weren't grateful though. Alex's performance will only endear him more to Yankees fans like myself. He went 3-5 with 2 runs and a walk. But, his crowning achievements were the Grand Slam he hit in the second inning and 5 RBIs that blast helped ARod to reach. I wonder what ARod's average with RISP is now?

Andruw Jones was busy making his own contributions to his team's narrow victory in Los Angeles, while al these other guys were helping their teams to win. Though we can't point to Jones's performance as the sole reason the Braves edged out the Dodgers, we do know they needed every run they could get. Jones provided the Braves with 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 HR, and 4 big RBIs while batting .500. Though he seems to be a little behind the pack with his own performance, it mattered much more to his team that he came through as much as he did.

Though Derrek Lee didn't provide any fireworks for his team in their rout of Cincinnati, he still gave a solid performance indicative of his great skills. Lee went 1-2 with 3 walks and 2 rbi as well as 2 runs. Though his club didn't exactly need his help for the victory in this one, it certainly helped to give them that insurance.

It looks as though these guys are all picking up just where they left off last season, as some of the most dominant players in the game, helping their teams to win in numerous ways.

3. Billy Beane's Dream Realized; Becomes Worst Nightmare:
Billy Beane, once super-prospect, literary hero, and GM of one of the AL's best teams had the idea some years back, following a lot of sabermetricians' advice, of building teams with high On Base Percentage (OBP), and high slugging percentage (slg) in the interest of putting people on base and getting big hits to drive in lots of runs- baseball's most valuable commodity. The idea originally was to value these stats while other, richer, more powerful teams focused on batting average, home runs, speed, and the "tools" players have. In essence, this would allow a small budget team like the A's compete with large budget teams like, say, the Yankees. Well, partly as a result of Moneyball, and partly as a result of Beane and his disciples around baseball, alot of teams have caught on to this trend, and guess what- it works! Nowhere can that be demonstrated more than on the current Yankees roster which made its regular season debut against Beane's Oakland Athletics last night. The Yankees starting nine boasts OBPs ranging from the mid .400s [extremely impressive] to the mid .300s [about league average or a bit higher], with only the exception of Robinson Cano being a little behind. The Yankees also happen to have some of the best sluggers in the league, all piled on top of each other in one monster lineup. This is what all the money and cache the Yankees carry can do with one man's dream. The results of last night's contest might have been akin to night terrors for Beane though. In the process of racking up 9 walks the Yankees lineup was patient enough not to waste outs and to wait for two huge home runs, coming from ARod [Grand Slam] and Matsui [three run home run]. Besides these 7 points the Yankees were able to score another eight by playing the same game and waiting for timely singles and doubles. Though nobody accuses the Yankees of being a "Moneyball" team, there is no doubting their espousal of parts of the that offensive philosophy, and the results have yielded pinstripe dreams.

2. So Much for the Red Sox not Being Able to Score Runs:
While the Red Sox went through major retooling throughout their organization this year, from Center Field, to front office, to the pitcher's mound, to the whole infield, the main criticism from most was that the team would not be able to score runs. The idea was that they lost too much firepower by replacing Damon with Crisp, Mueller with Lowell, Renteria with Gonzalez, and Bellhorn/Graffanino with Mark Loretta. Well, if yesterday afternoon's performance in Texas was any indication, the offense of the Red Sox should have no trouble scoring runs in the near future. Other than Ortiz's two runs, newcomers Coco Crisp (2 runs, 2 singles), Mark Loretta (double), and Mike Lowell (HR) all contributed runs to the teams offensive effort along with Sox-favorite Trot Nixon. It seems the Red Sox's plan of going defensive this year won't be hurting that offense too much.

1. Aces High:
On one of the few days in the season where the majority of starting pitchers are team aces one might expect that baseball would have a lot of 2-1 ball games, or at the very least 4-3. Yesterday this was not the case. As baseball continually tries to condition us, we should have known to expect the unexpected. Out of thirteen games there were only seven that did not have at least one team getting blown out, often at the expense of the team's "ace" starter. Six games had scores combined for at least ten points. 5 of those games had scores of 15 or more combined points, and two of them had combined scores of twenty or more points. That is a lot on any day in baseball, especially one with so many marquee pitchers.

This is all stuff that I found interesting and exciting about the first full day of games. However, interesting and exciting it is though, I wouldn't read too much into it, after all this is just one of 162 games. A lot can happen, and your ace with his 12.05 ERA might still have a chance to be the Cy Young award winner. Your teams slugger who is on pace to have 500 RBIs will surely not do so, and the teams that surprised with wins yesterday will no doubt be surprised with losses today. Such is baseball, which is why it is so great.

Browse on by tomorrow for a look at baseball from an international perspective and other miscellany. Oh congratulations to the University of Florida, I heard they won some game yesterday.

The Many Complications of Following Baseball from Abroad

Unfortunately, even though there was a promise here to wake up at 3.05 AM and listen to the whole ceremonial opening day game between the White Sox and the Indians, we experienced a few technical difficulties. This is all part of the life of a die-hard fan in Finland. I can't come home from a nice day on the links, or Frisbee® in Central Park, and drop my body onto the sofa to still catch Mark Buehrle's first pitch. I don't have that luxury.

I'm not complaining, it's just part of what following baseball means to me. For me to be prepared to listen to any prime-time game on the radio I have to plan. This is not just "Oh, I'll cook dinner on Sunday a little earlier, at about six, so that we can be finished by the game". This is a much more thorough preparation than that.

First, I have to decide: Is this particular game worth waking-up for in the middle of the night? Part of this is questioning if I am prepared to go straight to start my day and go to work directly after listening to the game's conclusion. Another part of this question is: "Do I want to go to bed at 10 or 11 PM so that I can get a little bit of sleep?" The answer to this question for all playoff games this last year was obviously a yes. This also was the case for every Yankees game during their 11th straight run to the post-season, coming down to their final series with the current tenants of Fenway Park. Last night, I decided that opening day with the World Champion Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians was also going to be worth it.

So, I set my alarm for 3.02 AM. I planned to rollout of bed, immediately fire up "Gameday audio" on MLB.com, then listen to the game, from the first pitch to the last. I would then take advantage of the late start to my days on Mondays and try to take an hour nap afterward. This would have all been fine if it went as planned. However, there were some unexpected malfunctions as I mentioned at the top of this notebook.

My alarm- using the clock feature on my iPod, appropriately named MyPod- either did not go off, or did not wake me in time for the start of the game. I just did not wake up. Be assured, when I awoke at 4.30 AM from a dream about Randy Johnson throwing a no-hitter against the newly-remodeled A's, I was both pissed, and in a hurry to get to my computer to fire up the game. After all, this is Mark Buehrle pitching. That guy has the quickest pitch to subsequent pitch count I have ever witnessed. I remember watching one of his outings last year that was done in under two hours! A joy for many of us baseball fans- but a concern for me, wanting to catch whatever I could of an important game.

Well to my surprise when I came to MLB.com , nature had its own delay in mind. It was only the middle of the fourth, Danny Graves inexplicably the pitcher officially on the mound, and Juan Uribe in the box -officially. In actuality of course, Bud Selig's worst nightmare- short of Sen. Mitchell revealing that Bud himself produced steroids in the late 90's- occured. The opening day game was being delayed due to rain. If we think of the opening day feature as baseball's way of saying to the world "Hey remember me? I've been on vacation for a while, but now I'm back and look how great I look", then what last night's unbelievably long rain delay said instead was "Hi, uh umm, sorry I'm late. I just got back from vacation, and you know I got a little drunk there, and pigged out on the breakfast buffet everyday"- all this coming from someone who looked ruddier than a cardinal with a beer gut to rival Sidney Ponson's. Actually, come to think of it, baseball came off looking just like Sidney Ponson with the first day rain delay.

Alas, though, these things are not under the control of baseball, butit was unfortunate for baseball to re-introduce itself to America in this way. I think this turn of events effected few the way it did me. I, after about an hour or so of waiting, just couldn't fathom staying up for one more minute just to see the three most dreaded letters in baseball season be flashed up on my screen: PPD. So i made the decision to go back to bed. As soon as I got up this morning [9AM], to my shock, I saw that they were still playing the top of the ninth- amazing, six hours including rain delays. I caught the end but by that time the 3-3 game of the 4th was now a 10-4 game and much less interesting to catch.

Anyway, that is in the past now, and today is a new day where we have a lot of games going on. I hope to catch one or two tonight and report on them in the morning. Good luck to everyone's favorite teams this season- in reality or fantasy. And I think I speak for a lot of fantasy owners when I say I hope C.C. Sabathia gets well soon.

-Fran

Baseball on the Radio

As we have now finally come upon opening day- the most longed-for and anticipated day of my sports calendar- I can finally sit down and follow a game that matters. This is no slight against the WBC- which I thoroughly enjoyed [perhaps the subject of another post]- but nothing compares to those 162 + games that matter for the professional clubs most of us have followed all our lives. While tonight's main event falls a bit short of last year's opening series for me, I think I can sing in harmony with the chorus of all baseball fans, by proclaiming "who cares, its baseball".

The last drafts of full season fantasy baseball are going on today. People are making roster adjustments. Mark Buehrle and C.C. Sabathia are tuning up. And along with this, a large section of the media, often forgotten, and rarely appreciated are loosening up their vocal chords, fresh off their own spring training. The great baseball radio announcers around the country have finally reached their bigest days of each year.

One of the unique things I enjoy about following baseball in the far northern corner of the globe is that the best way to enjoy a game without delay and with great quality, is through the radio. This is something I totally missed out on growing up in New York and going to school in the shadow of Yankee stadium. I also missed out on the joy of radio-baseball while attending university in Dallas, a five minutes drive to the Ballpark at Arlington {Ameriquest}. I only really began to appreciate this oldest of live baseball media through a rather new invention. MLB.radio, the feature from MLB.com, which started in the past couple of years, is a phenomenal resource for a truly nostalgic baseball fan. A subscriber can choose from any game anywhere in the league, and listen to the home or away broadcasts of that game-sometimes switching between both.

Sure, you don't get to watch Alex Gonzalez turn a fantastic double play, or see just how far Adam Dunn hit that towering drive, or see Brad Lidge's reaction as he gets a game-winning home run hit off of him. These abilities are wonderful, and part of why its great to watch games on TV. But radio gives the baseball conoisseur so much more. The whole game becomes suspenseful. Every second you are hanging on the words of these two or three people in the radio booth, wondering what just happened, what will happen, and reacting to their reactions. Also, anyone who has watched tv broadcasts of baseball recently knows that the announcers in that medium, clearly having to do less, are not quite as gifted as those on the radio. Most people who watch baseball on tv shut off the volume, and I can understand why.
While not all Radio announcers are great in every market, most are superb, and as a whole I would take any five radio announcers over any five tv announcers any day.

The other joy of the radio, especially as transmitted through the internet is the great variety in style, and substance that each market's radio announcers bring to their craft. Certain radio men are consummate professionals, announcing the home and away team's achievements with the same level of excitement. Others are really huge fans of their team, rooting for them to the point that impossible to trust their judgements on everything going on in the game- though thats all part of the fun of radio. There is a difference in exactly what each broadcaster announces as well. Some are really great about announcing the statistics that matter, both situationally, and overall. Others concentrate on how a player felt before a game and what they said, and how they look out there in the field. Each are interesting and each piece of information contributes just as little to the actual result of the at-bat on which they are commenting. Finally one of the great things about listening to the variety of radio broadcasters in baseball is the unique home run calls you hear. Each of the radio announcers, attempting to put his or her own mark on baseball history and into baseball lore tries to come up with inventive and memorable calls for baseball's most exciting event. This in itself is fantastic to hear and could be made into its own weekly highlight show on ESPN radio. Every announcer seems to try to go overboard in trying to beat out the next one with how original an signature their calls might be, and most of them are just perfect for the announcing personality.

I suggest that real die-hard baseball fans give the radio a shot for listening to one of te early season games they would otherwise be watching on TV. It really is a whole 'nother ball game. Baseball on the radio has to crawl out from its exile in cars and toll booths and reenter the mainstream, and MLB.com has provided it with the perfect means of escape- MLB.radio. Give it a try.

Tomorrow we'll have a running diary of my early morning wakeup to listen to the opening day game between the Cleveland Indians and your World Champion Chicago White Sox.