Category: MLB (Page 362 of 448)

Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News is subtly suggesting that Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi is already on the hot seat following the Bronx Bomber’s poor effort against in state rivals the Mets.

More to the point, the Yanks are doing almost nothing well. They entered this game batting .258 and stood 11th in runs scored in the AL. Their team ERA of 4.32 placed them 10th. The only bright spots were old dependables Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, a depressing notion. The Yanks are still relying heavily on their heroes from the ’90s, after all these years of revolving rosters and transactions.

Despite all of Girardi’s announced plans for more aggressive play on the bases, for building runs, the Yankees have stolen only 14 bases all season, while opponents have swiped 45 against a quartet of catchers. Girardi, it turns out, is no more aggressive than Torre.

“We’ve tried to do things,” Girardi said. “You have to have the opportunity to be aggressive. We don’t have the guys who can fly. We’re not going to outrun the baseball. We have to try to take advantage of situations when they’re there. Sometimes, they don’t present themselves.”

Then again, it looked Sunday night a lot like disaster.

The media (and Hank Steinbrenner for that matter) need to give Girardi a chance, here. The Yankees look bad, but they’ve had injuries and nobody should be surprised that the pitching has struggled with a blend of aging arms and inexperienced youth. The panic button should not be pushed yet on Girardi with it only being May 19.

Sometimes pitchers have large numbers of strikeouts for their careers, and often that is because they pitch a ton of innings. That’s not a bad thing, because if you have a pitcher who can go deep into a game, chances are good he’s going to win you lots of games. But here I want to talk about those pitchers who strike out more than a batter per inning, or close to it. Those are the guys I like to watch, whether they start games or finish them, because they (most of the time) bring the heat and make batters swing and miss. Here is a list of those pitchers that are still active in the game today:

1. Randy Johnson, Arizona Diamondbacks (10.762)—Not only does the Big Unit lead this category for active pitchers, he leads every pitcher ever to play the game, including Nolan Ryan (9.548). I mean, think about that. This intimidating lefty strikes out almost 11 batters per nine innings. That’s not just really good, it’s a freak of nature. He even struck out 290 batters in 2004 at the age of FORTY. And none of us can think about Johnson without remembering that poor bird he disintegrated with one of his fastballs in spring training a few years back.

2. Kerry Wood, Chicago Cubs (10.290)—He once struck out 20 batters in a game, but with Wood being on the DL more than Pacman Jones is in strip clubs, he’s never quite reached his potential. Now he’s a closer, which will slow his strikeout totals, but not his average per nine.

3. Pedro Martinez, New York Mets (10.190)—In 1999, Martinez was in his prime, and had some of the most wicked stuff I’ve ever seen. That year, he struck out 313 in 213 innings, an average of 13.22 per nine innings. The poor guy keeps landing on the DL on the back nine of his career, but he’s still only 36.

4. Johan Santana, New York Mets (9.476)—One of the most dominant pitchers in the last five years is now in the spotlight of New York City, and so far as a Met he’s kept his one strikeout per inning ratio intact (52 in 52 innings). And it’s not just the heat with Johan—his changeup has made batters swing while the ball is only halfway to the mound.

5. Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres (9.031)—If Peavy drinks some of Trevor Hoffman’s potion for staying young, he might wind up with 4000 strikeouts for his career.

6. Arthur Rhodes, Seattle Mariners (8.856)—In 17 seasons, Rhodes has mostly been a reliever. But he’s only saved 30 games, which means he’s been relegated to set-up and middle relief. Still, Rhodes has managed to strike out 1003 batters in 1020 innings. Which begs the question: has no one thought of using this guy as a closer?

7. Hideo Nomo, free agent (8.734)—After a two year absence from the majors, Nomo was just released by the Royals and is expected to officially announce his retirement. But he hasn’t retired yet, so here he is on this list. Nomo has one of the most unconventional deliveries, and that alone has fooled many hitters over the years.

8. Curt Schilling, Boston Red Sox (8.600)—When Schilling isn’t convincing everyone that the blood on his sock in the playoffs a few years back was real, he’s still blowing hitters away.

9. Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox (8.531)—Beckett proved he’s worth every penny of his salary by dominating in the playoffs. He’s done it with Boston, and he did it with Florida in 2003. The guy is just money.

10. Tom Gordon, Philadelphia Phillies (8.248)—It’s hard to believe Tom “Flash” Gordon has been pitching in the bigs for 20 years, but he has. And he’s racked up almost 2000 strikeouts. Wow.

Source: Baseball Reference.com

Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman writes that MLB has become the new “No Fun” league with the way players like Joba Chamberlain are berated for showing too much emotion on the field.

All three high crimes occurred in recent days. The high court of baseball has charged each with violating the game’s unwritten rules, all of which can be boiled down to this.
No fun allowed. Whatever you do, don’t have a good time on the diamond. There’s no joy in Mudville and there’s no joy in any burg that houses baseball.

But little boys don’t act like monastery monks. To pass muster in baseball, apparently you’ve got to be an iceman. A stoic. To meet the baseball standard, you’ve got to play with all the passion of celery.
In the clubhouse, act as goofy and juvenile as you wish, as the White Sox and their infamous blowup doll proved. Act like a 12-year-old there and that’s baseball.

Tramel makes an interesting point. Aren’t sporting events supposed to be about emotion? As long as you’re not purposely trying to upstage your opponent, what’s wrong with a fist pump on the mound after a strikeout? What happens when a batter hits a walk off to win the game? His teammates jump up and down on him at home plate like he just won the lottery. How is that type of tradition acceptable, but a fist pump by a pitcher isn’t?

Look, fans don’t want to see planned celebrations like in the NFL, but I don’t think players like Chamberlain need to be crucified by guys like Goose Gossage just because he showed emotion after a good play.

Jon Heyman of SI.com ranked the top 10 baseball signings of all time.

4. Barry Bonds, Giants outfielder, 1993; $43.75 million, six years. The deal was a record at the time, but Bonds proved to be worth every penny, winning the NL MVP award in his debut season in San Francisco. Even before he and his head got so big, he was the best there was. He wound up staying 15 years, breaking baseball’s biggest record, making everyone a lot of money, and eventually upsetting enough folks that no one wanted to employ him. But that part came later. A lot later.

1. David Ortiz, Red Sox designated hitter, 2003; $1.25 million, one year. When Ortiz was signed just weeks before the start of spring training, newly hired and 29-year-old Red Sox GM Theo Epstein claimed that one day Ortiz could emerge as a key middle-of-the-order hitter. Some might have scoffed, but as it turns out, Ortiz has done much more than that, and is probably a Hall of Famer based only on the half a career he’s spent in Boston. Later, the Red Sox signed Ortiz to two more team-friendly deals (though not nearly this team friendly).

With what he’s meant to Boston over the years, it’s easy to forget that Ortiz once played for the Twins. And Heyman is right – Bonds was worth every penny for the Giants. While that pesky steroids thing turned out to be quite the issue, fans always packed the stands to see Bonds and Giants’ owner Peter McGowan reaped the benefits.