TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Medal Field Set

The Olympic medal round field has been set with Australia trouncing the Netherlands, 22-2. There's one more round of preliminary games, that will determine the exact match-ups for the semi-final round, but Cuba and Japan will be at the top and Canada and Australia will be the lower seeds. With Australia's romp, a win over Taiwan will likely give it Cuba in the semis, which would leave Canada the daunting task of beating Japan to get to the gold medal round. It's single-elimination, and we might even get some games on the tube in North America. Both of the semis should be pretty decent games.

Australia have the advantage of being able to set its rotation to a degree -- since the Taiwan game is not a "must win" it can hold back its best pitcher for the semis. We may yet see Jeff Williams get his Olympic due.

posted by The Crank 1:52 PM

Friday, August 20, 2004

Medal Field Narrows

The fifth round of prelminaries is over, and Cuba, Canada, and Japan are safely assured of spots in the medal round with 4-1 records. Australia is 3-2 and trailed by Netherlands at 2-3; Australia, however, still faces Canada, and Netherlands gets Taiwan, and then they play one another. It appears likely the Netherlands-Australia game will be for the 4th spot in the medal round, although Taiwan still has a deeply outside shot it it beats Netherlands, Netherlands beats Australia, and Australia loses two.

Cuba, as I've noted, appears vulnerable: Australia, Taiwan, or the Netherlands all have a shot if that's who they draw for a bronze medal game. Japan still appears the prohibitive favorite for the gold, but with a one-game gold medal round, much may depend on the luck of the draw for the semifinals. Olympic baseball uses a runs for-runs against tiebreaker system, which is rather absurd in a short tournament (this is not soccer) and Canada running up the tot in its first three games will probably put it in the top bracket.

posted by The Crank 2:55 PM

Thursday, August 19, 2004

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
They've extended Bud Selig's term.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/

Doug Pappas must be spinning in his grave.

posted by David 3:55 PM

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

How's This For A Thought Question

Imagine that Barry Bonds suffers a season-ending some time in the next week. My question is, do the Cardinals sweep the medal stand in the MVP voting?

Is this totally crazy? According to the current NL OPS chart, it might not be as crazy as it first sounds. Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen sit 3, 4, and 5 in OPS, in that order, and #2 Todd Helton, while having his usual fine season with the Rockies, won't be a factor in the MVP voting owing to the Rockies poor season.

I think it's safe to say that, barring injury, Rolen and Pujols will both be top-3 in the MVP voting, so the question is, is Jim Edmonds #4 right now? Really, the only guys in the mix at this point would be J. D. Drew and Adrian Beltre, guys having big seasons for division leaders. No one from the Cubs or Padres is really top-5 material right now, and Bonds is the only guy in the running from the Giants, unless you count Jason Schmidt (and I don't, not top-5 in the MVP voting). Guys like Jim Thome, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, and Lance Berkman would really need their teams to pick it up to be a factor, and Adam Dunn and Sean Casey suffer from the same problem as Helton.

I think I'd put Drew and Beltre in front of Edmonds right now, but it's close. If the Big 3 from the Cards wind up all in the Top 5 in OPS and the Cards wind up posting something goofy like 108-54 at season's end, they could all be in the mix.

posted by Tom Renbarger 6:39 PM

Slap Hits

Some random tidbits at the approximate 3/4 mark of the season:

• The Cubs play 44 of 47 remaining games against opponents with records of one game above .500 (the Marlins) on down. Houston could still make a move on the wild card by sweeping the Cubs, but that hardly seems likely. By contrast, the Giants and Padres play about half their remaining games against +.500 teams, including a fair number against one another and the Dodgers. With Wood and Prior healthy, Maddux and Zambrano pitching well, it's hard to see how with a creampuff schedule like this the Cubs will blow it. But I'm sure Cubs fans will be convinced there's a way.
  
  
• Oakland has half its remaining schedule against Anaheim, Texas, Cleveland, and Boston...Boston also has six against the Yankees left on the schedule, plus series against Anaheim and Oakland. Anaheim and Texas, as you might infer, have schedules similar to Oakland's. The AL Wild Card will be a duke-out compared to the NL.
  
  
• Bonds Hits vs. Runs: after being pitched to for a good part of the end of July and early August, Barry's nearly back on pace for more runs than hits -- 91 runs and 94 hits at this writing. Bonds stole third uncontested the other day: he's six for six in steals this season, and this is at least the third base I recall he stole without a throw. One of the freakiest seasons on record continues.
  
  
• Lyle Overbay vs. Earl Webb: Overbay was on pace to beat Webb's all-time single season doubles record of 67 a month ago, but is only at 39 now with 46 games to play. He's tied with Brian Roberts...and Ron Belliard of Cleveland is now the league leader at 42. Belliard's on pace for 58 doubles, well off the mark. This is still the all-time record in one of the medium-significant categories that seems most likely to fall - just not this year.
  
  
• Olympic Baseball Sighting: Finally MSNBC covered baseball today -- with a 20-minute concatenated version of the marquee matchup, Cuba vs. Japan. Japan won 6-3... The American, er, Greek team had a surprisingly good outing against Cuba yesterday, losing only by a 5-4 margin. One thinks this is more about the weakness of Cuba than the medal hopes of Greece, though... Taiwan has started out 2-1 and might have a shot at nudging Australia out for the medal rounds if they can beat Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands this coming week. The 3-0 victory over Australia may well have been the decisive game of the early rounds for Taiwan... Canada has outscored its opponents by 20 runs in its first three games -- but has yet to play Cuba, Australia, or Japan... Italy's club team has been a disappointment thus far, but you have to hand it to the Italians for going mostly with actual Italian nationals this time out.
  
  

posted by The Crank 1:17 PM

Monday, August 16, 2004

STILL OPEN FOR BUSINESS

By Diane M. Grassi

Finishing only second to the Detroit Tigers in 2003, which had the worst team record in the American League, the Cleveland Indians are now enjoying a .529 winning percentage, just two games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central division. On August 1st, most did not even consider Cleveland to appear on the radar as competition for the Twins as they were 6.5 games out, in third place behind the Chicago White Sox. Far stranger things have happened in baseball. The question is whether this refigured young Cleveland tribe has the focus to continue to make inroads on the Twins these last few weeks. Could they be the Cinderella team everyone hopes for in the post-season?

Speaking of the Detroit Tigers, they were on the rise to crack a .500 winning percentage earlier in the season, but since August they have been going in the wrong direction. Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez has been a real shot in the arm for the Tigers by example of his leadership, aggressive playing style, and his handling of a young pitching staff. But it is going to take more than Pudge's efforts for them to be a winning club this year, and to enjoy their first winning season since 1993. They have a much improved record this year and are playing with considerably more confidence. Considering they had the worst record in MLB last year, it simply just won't be good enough for their fans and management if they do not reach .500. Had they not shown so much more promise earlier in the season, it would not be as much an issue. But they have raised the bar and should not finish worse off than they did in June and July.

And speaking of Pudge Rodriguez, he owned the race for the batting title most of the season, until Ichiro Suzuki got hot in July. However, Pudge is still third in batting behind Ichiro and Melvin Mora. For a catcher to win a batting title would be no less than historic, given the rigors of being a field general, but to do it on a team which lost 119 games the year before, and only the second worse record in the history of modern day baseball would make it even more of a feat. But Pudge is a lifetime .306 hitter and he has finished at .347 in 1999 with the Texas Rangers and at .338 in 2003 with the Florida Marlins, so he is not exactly in new territory. He has been quoted as saying he would be satisfied if he surpassed his previous batting average of .347 for the season.

And let us not forget the Wild Card standings where the battles for the Wild Card have been relentless with both leagues hosting three way ties. The American League has Boston, Texas and Anaheim duking it out, with Cleveland 2.5 games behind. In the National League Chicago, San Diego and San Francisco are also tied. And Oakland and Texas are still holding strong for the AL West title.

So the holders-on in the AL Central, the AL West and those in contention for the two Wild Cards continue to overshadow the numerous other division leaders that appear headed for division crowns; namely the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The distance these leaders have over their closest rivals is also a story, as no one expected as big a divide between first and second place finishers.

Had there been closer division races, the remaining races now for the Wild Cards certainly would not have garnered so much ink in the press. Yet with so much baseball still to be decided on the diamond, we continue to be teased and remain at the edge of our seats for photo finishes. The only other place where photo finishes are dominant these days is the 2004 Olympics. If MLB can still generate interest at the same time the Games are going on, they'll certainly take 2nd place. They haven't closed up shop, yet!

posted by Diane M. Grassi 2:39 PM

We Are Family

I Got All My Sisters With Me, etc. etc.

I've been watching the US women's softball team at the Olympics, because that's the only baseball-like game being covered thus far on US television, and as much as I'm wary of the fast pitch game as a TV spectator sport, it's still our game and our team. I've also been watching the regionals for the Little League World Series, and the Bronco World Series has just wrapped up here in Monterey, California. (The Bronco World Series is sort of the lower-key Little League World Series -- still no TV contract, although alas that may be changing).

What's always striking about these two types of baseball sports is the way on-field celebrations and the team unity concepts are demonstrated. In the majors, if you celebrate excessively during a home-run trot, the opposing pitcher is going to hit one of your batters, or possibly you'll just get into a fight right then and there. There's a lot of alpha-male aggression, pack loyalty (the entire team must clear the bench), and puffing up surrounding the issue of how and how hard one celebrates an achievement. At the end of the game, hands are shook -- among the winning team only. The losers are left to go out on their own; in the post-season there seem to be a lot of players on the losing side of the last game who choose to stay on the bench, staring disconsolately at the celebration of the winning team.

In Little League, teams still shake hands at the end of the game, winners shaking losers' hands. My recollection of this as a participant was that it was a tough thing to do graciously as a winner and tough to take as a loser (remember the last scene of the "The Bad News Bears"?) but that as a forced gesture of reconciliation, it had the appropriate effect of defusing lingering tensions over the conduct of a mere game. With the official Little League World Series becoming more high-profile, and thus by extension more full of tension for the participants, this ritual seems to be more and more strained.

In Little League, too, the excessive celebration is frowned upon. One of the interesting cultural divides of a couple of years ago was when the Harlem, NY, team couldn't help itself from really going nutso when one of its own did something good. A couple of times home run trots became more like NBA slamma jammas or NFL touchdown dances than the more restrained examples (traditionally) of the major leagues. This became controversial because, in part, some of the critical comments from opposing team coaches and parents had racial and class issues that intruded in this perceived issue of how much celebration is enough and how much is excessive. The very idea of excessive celebration, of course, is a cultural construct.

Still, in Little League games when a player hits a homer, the entire team comes out to the plate to celebrate -- something you see in the big leagues only, and I mean only, in the event of a "walk off" homer that ends the game. (This may be changing: remember Sammy hugging Big Mac after home run number 62? But I confess I was personally appalled by this: they were opponents in the heat of a pennant race, and this gesture seemed to me to be exalting individual achievement well over that of the team. But a trend may still be developing.) You'll see a lot of "attaboys" and imprecations to chatter up the infield in the youth leagues, something absent from the pros and mostly absent from the upper reaches of high school and college ball.

In fast-pitch competitive women's softball, we get even further down the spectrum of mutual on-field real-time while-the-game-is-happening we-are-a-team support. The women all come out to the plate to greet the hitter of a home run, just like little league and unlike the majors. But they also come together for congratulations after every out. The infielders and pitcher will get together and give one another high-fives after a routine ground-out. You'll see outfielders convering on a ball giving one another slaps after a catch. With all this celebration, there are no bench-clearing brawls (at least that I've ever seen). It's considered part of the ethos of how the sport is played, the same way not celebrating is part of the ethos of the majors.

One could do a lot of anthropological, psychological, and sociological pondering about the differing celebration styles of men, women, and children, but I'll spare you. It may be that it's just easier to do on the reduced dimensions of the softball diamond, or that the types of celebration are proportionate to the level of amateurism of each type of ball game.

---

Speaking of Olympic softball...softball is, far and away, among the ball-and-bat sports, the one with the highest number of amateur participants. I remember reading someplace that one in four adult Canadians is in an organized softball league, and that softball injuries in the US are still the number one source of sports injuries. Cricket is played in more countries, of course, but organized cricket is deucedly hard to keep up compared to a beer softball league.

What's kind of odd about softball is it represents two extremes of the baseball-style-game. The fast pitch game, the kind they play at the Olympics, I frankly find boring as a spectator and as a player. The game is dominated by the pitching, the plays are short and fast, the geometries limiting and the ratio of action to anticipation much lower than baseball. The infield is usually all dirt, there's no mound. The games end up looking a lot like those of the extreme-pitching "scientific" era of baseball from the 1890s to 1920, the only serious period of decline in baseball's popularity in its history (attendance went down from 1912 on to when the Ruth era began; despite baseball's canonical popularity as a professional sport, bicycle racing and sculling, among other sports, regularly drew far larger crowds in those days.)

The slow-pitch variety is about anything but pitching, which may be why it's the more popular variant. The purpose of pitching is to put the ball in play. The game thus becomes an offensive one, but one where fielding -- getting those precious outs -- is at a premium. Infielders play farther back, paradoxically, than the fast pitch infielders, and you get that lovely creation, the short-fielder, the roving fielder, who replicates the original flexible positioning of the original short stops. The game seems to me about the closest one could get to 1845-1870s-era baseball, more democratic since the requirements oof specialist skills are less intense and more forgiving. Virtually anybody can play slow-pitch softball.

That's the big paradox we face as Olympic viewers. Softball is something that seemingly everybody can play, and thus it's attractive because it's easier to imagine one playing. But the fast-pitch variant is an extreme in the other direction, and the lack of action and distance is alienating, at least to me. I'm going to continue to watch the US women with as much interest as I can muster, but I will also probably sneak over to ESPN2 for some Little League games and stick to the MLB Extra Innings games for the most part. I suspect I will be among the few viewers of the US softball games in Athens, though. The pity is the women clearly have the talent to make a good baseball club, were the baseball rules modified slightly the same way WNBA rules and dimensions are modified to make the sport a bit better adapted to the baseline physiological differences between adult males and females. The whole history of the AAGPBA certainly demonstrates it would be an entertaining and competitive sport, the Silver Bullets notwithstanding, in a way "competitive" softball can never hope to approach.

posted by The Crank 10:47 AM

Sunday, August 15, 2004

The Return of Zoccolillo
I was in Sacramento a few weeks back and saw the Oklahoma RedHawks as they pulled through town. I was excited to see an old name: Pete Zoccolillo



I first saw Pete way back in 2001 when he was playing for Beloit in the Midwest League.



He later made it to the bigs...




I'm always happy to see a Midwest League guy make good. The most famous I've photographed is that Cabrera kid:

posted by David 7:28 PM

Yikes!

Taking a quick break from baseball to write about the egg that the U.S. Men's basketball team laid in the first half against Puerto Rico. 27-49 at halftime, with this alleged Dream Team scoring only 7 points in the second quarter. During one stretch in the second quarter, the following three 15-foot baseline jump shots happened: Dwyane Wade, airball; Carmelo Anthony, ball wedged between the rim and backboard; Richard Jefferson, hit the corner of the backboard. That about sums things up for this squad -- forget about the three-pointer for a minute, isn't there anyone on this team that can hit a 15-foot jump shot?

Maybe this is the best advertisement of all for high schoolers to attend and stay in college for three or four years. If you don't, you'll wind up getting embarassed on a US Olympic team.

posted by Tom Renbarger 10:52 AM