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.
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