That Sports Blog Guy brings you breaking news first:
Chicago Cubs teammates Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett came to blows Friday afternoon following Zambrano's fifth-inning exit against the Braves. Zambrano gave up seven runs on the day and left trailing 7-1.
The two initially appeared to argue over a crossed-up pitch sign before Zambrano took a swing at Barrett. Teammates and Lou Piniella broke up the scuffle, which ended with Zambrano palming Barrett's face like a basketball.
Following the scuffle, Zambrano exited to the locker room. Barrett paced the dugout, visibly upset.
Moments later, Pineilla and Larry Rothchild went down the tunnel towards the clubhouse for unknown reasons. Barrett was removed from the game and replaced by Koyie Hill before the next inning.
A source close to the situation speculated that the conflict between the two players may have continued in the locker room.
By 3:20 p.m., within a half-hour of the scuffle, Zambrano was reported as leaving the stadium.
Sound off on what you think of the incident! Is Zambrano a basket case?
Friday, June 1, 2007
The all-SmallBall team: Part one
This will be the first in a series that sets out to design a practical "small ball" lineup from current MLB rosters, a project I decided to do upon writing my "Bringing back the stolen base" column from a few days back, down just a bit on this blog.
Defining small ball is a challenge, but we have to lay out some ground rules to go about putting together the ultimate small ball team. The goal of the offense will be to win through the tenets of a small ball style of play that focuses on team speed, strong defense (especially up the middle), and an ability to advance runners.
Typical small ball hitters will have high stolen base totals (and success rates), low power numbers (we'll aim for only having two players with more than 20 HR / 550 AB power) and a low strikeout rate. A high walk rate is a plus, and don't let sabermetricians tell you that modern baseball theory put the value in OBP--players from Slidin' Billy Hamilton (whose last season was 1901) on have appreciated the value of the walk. A high walk rate is not at odds with a small ball approach!
I'll start going position-by-position with my next post. Feel free to suggest guys. Keep in mind that we're trying to make this a legit, reasonable team, not the best team ever, so we'll aim for a lineup that has a reasonable payroll and isn't stocked with all-stars.
Comment if you have any player suggestions, and I'll start putting together the selections with the next post.
Defining small ball is a challenge, but we have to lay out some ground rules to go about putting together the ultimate small ball team. The goal of the offense will be to win through the tenets of a small ball style of play that focuses on team speed, strong defense (especially up the middle), and an ability to advance runners.
Typical small ball hitters will have high stolen base totals (and success rates), low power numbers (we'll aim for only having two players with more than 20 HR / 550 AB power) and a low strikeout rate. A high walk rate is a plus, and don't let sabermetricians tell you that modern baseball theory put the value in OBP--players from Slidin' Billy Hamilton (whose last season was 1901) on have appreciated the value of the walk. A high walk rate is not at odds with a small ball approach!
I'll start going position-by-position with my next post. Feel free to suggest guys. Keep in mind that we're trying to make this a legit, reasonable team, not the best team ever, so we'll aim for a lineup that has a reasonable payroll and isn't stocked with all-stars.
Comment if you have any player suggestions, and I'll start putting together the selections with the next post.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Billy Donovan accepts Orlando Magic offer
CBSSportsline.com is reporting that Billy Donovan has officially accepted the Orlando Magic's contract offer of $5.5 million per year for five years. The salary is more than three times Donovan's University of Florida salary of $1.7 million.
Orlando is just a few hours from Gainesville, and Donovan lost his seven top scorers at Florida from a year ago. He takes over a team that, despite losing records in the past two seasons, is widely regarded as an up-and-comer in the NBA with young talent such as Dwight Howard, J.J. Redick and Trevor Ariza. Free agent center Darko Milicic may also return to the team.
Did Donovan make the right choice? How will he fare in the NBA?
Orlando is just a few hours from Gainesville, and Donovan lost his seven top scorers at Florida from a year ago. He takes over a team that, despite losing records in the past two seasons, is widely regarded as an up-and-comer in the NBA with young talent such as Dwight Howard, J.J. Redick and Trevor Ariza. Free agent center Darko Milicic may also return to the team.
Did Donovan make the right choice? How will he fare in the NBA?
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Bringing back the stolen base
I am not a baseball purist. By that, I mean that I am not a crusty, cynical senior citizen who whines about how all of the baseball players from "back in the day" were hard-nosed players, great citizens, threw 105 miles per hour and hit the ball 570 feet.
I dig the long ball. I dig the high on-base and three-run homer approach of today's top offensive teams (especially in the AL). This style is not a bastardization of the game; it is an evolution of the game, a phase of the game, and an effective way to score runs right now.
But I do miss small ball. And I don't mean the type of small ball that every team plays, where NL pitchers bunt runners over and light-hitting contact hitters slap the ball to the second baseman to move a runner over to third with no outs.
I'm talking real small ball--the type of small ball that teams don't just participate in every now and then, but that teams are built around: A leadoff man who steals 70 bases, a lineup that has a handful of base-stealing threats, and a defense that snags everything, especially up the middle.
This type of team is rare or non-existent today because it isn't feasible. There aren't many more than a handful of legit base-stealers in either league, much less on one team. And it's that lack of base-stealing that I believe is the #1 culprit for the disappearance of small ball. What would need to be done to bring back stealing?
1. Stop building the bandbox parks. Make it worth it to take a risk to grab an extra bag by lowering the number of home runs and doubles. Teams will put an emphasis on drafting, developing and playing base-stealers at the expense of poor-man's sluggers like, say, Scott Thorman.
2. Call balks. A pitcher is not to deceive a runner with his delivery. Well, to be specific and go by the rule book, a pitcher is to be called for a balk when he "makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fails to make the delivery."
So when a pitcher lifts that leg up like he's going to toss a pitch, then spins and throws to a base? Yeah, that's a balk, unless lifting a leg up while facing home plate is considered starting to throw towards the base (which may be arguable for Hideo Nomo and, sometimes, Justin Verlander). Washed-up Japanese pitchers aside, umps should enforce the rules the way they are written by calling deceptive pick-off moves that involve pitchers starting a natural delivery home before throwing to a base.
3. To make running easier, bring back the uniform shorts that the White Sox wore in 1976.
4. Don't actually do #3.
Anyone else love the excitement of the stolen base and want to see it come back? Have any ideas to make it happen?
I dig the long ball. I dig the high on-base and three-run homer approach of today's top offensive teams (especially in the AL). This style is not a bastardization of the game; it is an evolution of the game, a phase of the game, and an effective way to score runs right now.
But I do miss small ball. And I don't mean the type of small ball that every team plays, where NL pitchers bunt runners over and light-hitting contact hitters slap the ball to the second baseman to move a runner over to third with no outs.
I'm talking real small ball--the type of small ball that teams don't just participate in every now and then, but that teams are built around: A leadoff man who steals 70 bases, a lineup that has a handful of base-stealing threats, and a defense that snags everything, especially up the middle.
This type of team is rare or non-existent today because it isn't feasible. There aren't many more than a handful of legit base-stealers in either league, much less on one team. And it's that lack of base-stealing that I believe is the #1 culprit for the disappearance of small ball. What would need to be done to bring back stealing?
1. Stop building the bandbox parks. Make it worth it to take a risk to grab an extra bag by lowering the number of home runs and doubles. Teams will put an emphasis on drafting, developing and playing base-stealers at the expense of poor-man's sluggers like, say, Scott Thorman.
2. Call balks. A pitcher is not to deceive a runner with his delivery. Well, to be specific and go by the rule book, a pitcher is to be called for a balk when he "makes any motion naturally associated with his pitch and fails to make the delivery."
So when a pitcher lifts that leg up like he's going to toss a pitch, then spins and throws to a base? Yeah, that's a balk, unless lifting a leg up while facing home plate is considered starting to throw towards the base (which may be arguable for Hideo Nomo and, sometimes, Justin Verlander). Washed-up Japanese pitchers aside, umps should enforce the rules the way they are written by calling deceptive pick-off moves that involve pitchers starting a natural delivery home before throwing to a base.
3. To make running easier, bring back the uniform shorts that the White Sox wore in 1976.
4. Don't actually do #3.
Anyone else love the excitement of the stolen base and want to see it come back? Have any ideas to make it happen?
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Five Things Currently Annoying That Sports Blog Guy
1. Flopping
Soccer has long been plagued by floppers, and I'm not talking about streakers. I'm talking about players who drop to the ground every time an opponent nudges, shoves or breathes on them.
It must be a European thing. Remember the original NBA flopper, Vlade Divac? Now Manu Ginobili is wearing that mantle, and that mantle is covered in floor burn. And tears. And Summer's Eve.
I'm the furthest thing from a Spurs fan, but I'm also no Jazz fan. As Michael Vick would say, I don't have a dog in the fight when it comes to the current NBA controversy. But in any series, any time, and talking about any player, I'm just sick of the whining, flopping, crying, acting and all the general nonsense going on in NBA games that is taking the focus away from the game and putting it on the referees.
2. Roger Clemens
The greatest pitcher of the generation has jumped the shark--or at least the media coverage of him has. When the top story on SportsCenter is a minor league game, and Izzy Alcantara is not in said minor league game, something is wrong. Watching Roger Clemens on the mound against 20 year-olds and hearing him bitch after the game in a press conference is not my idea of sports news.
Someone needs to tell the media that great pitchers like Jake Peavy, John Smoltz and Johan Santana are pitching against real batters and doing more against them--for better teams--than Clemens is doing against babyfaced twenty-somethings in a mediocre Yankees organization.
3. NFL Players' Legal Troubles and Accompanying Excuses
Alright, listen up Mr. Vick, Henry, Jones, etc. etc...and you too, Marvin Lewis. Here is a surprise: NFL players make a lot of money. Also, this just in: they don't have very long careers. Here is another one: breaking the law is a good way to get arrested. Put those three together and you get the common sense advice that a person in the NFL should stay on the straight and narrow for that short career, then take that money and run.
NFL players, if you want to smoke weed with five 16 year-old girls in a luxury SUV driving 120 miles per hour to take your dog to a fight, how about waiting until your NFL career is over instead of risking a season to unpaid suspension? That one season is 25-30% of a typical player's career, and about 100% of what a typical person makes in a lifetime. Wake up, boneheads.
On top of the idiocy of it all, I'm tired of hearing players (and Coach Lewis) make stupid excuses for stupid actions. Having a lot of players get arrested? Blame it on the cops! Blame it on racism! Blame it on global warming!
Here is an idea: blame it on the player who made the mistake that led to an arrest in the first place. Chris Henry, your legal troubles are not the fault of the policeman who was doing his job in finding and taking your marijuana, your legal trobles are your own fault for having it in your car. Is a little personal responsibility too much to ask for?
4. Players Suspended for Criminal Allegations
Going in a different direction now: While players who are convicted should own up to their mistakes and all of the criticism that comes along with those mistakes, players who are merely accused of crimes should not be treated as criminals by their teams in any official capacity, at least not until convicted of said crimes. What ever happened to individual liberties, innocent until proven guilty and all of that jazz? Sure, teams are individual companies who can make their own decisions outside of the burdens that we put on our government, but their right to do so does not justify their decision to do so.
If there is one thing that we should take from the Duke Lacrosse fiasco, it's that academics, feminists and hippies are really quick to lock the door and throw away the key when rape is alleged, even when the allegations are awfully shady. But if there is a second thing to take away, it is that teams should think twice about suspending players on mere allegations. We have a justice system for a reason; let it decide whether or not a person is guilty before you go about starting to ruin his life. The court of public opinion will judge players who have yet to be convicted or acquitted, but teams should be above that.
5. Teenaged Mets Fans
Yeah, the Mets are good. Now shut up. I remember seeing you wearing a Yankees cap two years ago. That middle-aged guy who was languishing at Shea back when nobody went to Shea, back when the Mets were always "rebuilding," that guy is a real fan. You're a snot-nosed bandwagon jumper who had to blackmail your mom with threats of telling daddy about how the gardener "mows her lawn" just to get an authentic David Wright jersey last month...the first piece of Mets gear you've ever owned.
Keyshawn Johnson: Hall of Famer?
Keyshawn Johnson was a tremendous NFL wide receiver for a number of years, with his peak coming early in his career when he was arguably the best player at his position in 1998-99. He will serve as the prototype "possession receiver" in comparisons for years to come. If I could get a quarter for every time an analyst will compare a draft prospect to Keyshawn over the next decade, I'd end up with enough money to get a 'do from Mel Kiper's stylist.
Johnson was a hell of a player, simply put, but he was not a Hall of Famer. Especially if Art Monk--the original ultimate possession receiver--is not one.
Monk, who played from 1980-1995, outpaced Johnson in every major category:
-126 more receptions
-2150 more yards
-4 more receiving TDs
-.5 more yards per reception
The players had remarkably similar peaks, with both players having exactly five seasons of 980+ yards. Monk gained a little more yardage in his peak, while Johnson snagged a few more touchdown tosses. One could argue either way about era and team adjustments, but neither player played for the 2004-06 Colts, that's for sure.
Given that Johnson's career was remarkably similar to Monk's, I don't think Keyshawn will be able to escape the looming shadow of Monk's non-induction when judgment day comes for him.
Johnson was a hell of a player, simply put, but he was not a Hall of Famer. Especially if Art Monk--the original ultimate possession receiver--is not one.
Monk, who played from 1980-1995, outpaced Johnson in every major category:
-126 more receptions
-2150 more yards
-4 more receiving TDs
-.5 more yards per reception
The players had remarkably similar peaks, with both players having exactly five seasons of 980+ yards. Monk gained a little more yardage in his peak, while Johnson snagged a few more touchdown tosses. One could argue either way about era and team adjustments, but neither player played for the 2004-06 Colts, that's for sure.
Given that Johnson's career was remarkably similar to Monk's, I don't think Keyshawn will be able to escape the looming shadow of Monk's non-induction when judgment day comes for him.
Yankees Lose Again Despite Team Meeting
This is the top MLB headline on sportsline.cbs.com. Needless to say, I have yet to see a "Devil Rays Lose Again Despite Team Meeting" headline, although Tampa Bay has a record identical to the Yankees at 21-28.
The media's love affair for the Yanks aside, I don't even know where to start with this headline. Is a team meeting really such a pivotal event that a team loses "despite" holding one? I could imagine a more apt headline would be "Team X Loses Despite Sending Johan Santana to the Mound."
Maybe the team lost because of the hour-long pregame meeting? That clubhouse coffee isn't nearly as good nowadays with all that amphetamine testing, and I can't stand listening to Joe Torre for a five-minute press conference, much less an hour. It's hard to get motivated to play a baseball game when the first pitch interrupts a cozy nap.
The media's love affair for the Yanks aside, I don't even know where to start with this headline. Is a team meeting really such a pivotal event that a team loses "despite" holding one? I could imagine a more apt headline would be "Team X Loses Despite Sending Johan Santana to the Mound."
Maybe the team lost because of the hour-long pregame meeting? That clubhouse coffee isn't nearly as good nowadays with all that amphetamine testing, and I can't stand listening to Joe Torre for a five-minute press conference, much less an hour. It's hard to get motivated to play a baseball game when the first pitch interrupts a cozy nap.
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