Baseballist Blog

  According to MLB. com writer John Schlegel, stolen bases in the American League are up.  Well, I do declare.  Just last week the Sporting News gave their reasons for the death of the stolen base.  Someone’s wrong.  The Sporting News claimed the death of the stolen base due to stadium sizes, the slide step, performance enhancing drugs, no Astroturf, and lost glory (players just don’t want to steal bases anymore).  

  Schlegel says the success rate in the AL is 76.2 % and in the NL it is 69.2% (about what it was last year.  So, what does this all mean?

  Nothing.  It means nothing until this rate keeps up all year.  Of course, just Sunday we had Carl Crawford’s six steals in a game.  This was against Jason Varitek who has an 81% success rate against him.  It doesn’t matter the pitcher as long as Varitek’s behind the mask.

  As far as I see, the Sporting News is right.  However, they could have added Sabermetrics to the list.  After all, it does preach against the stolen base and with home runs having been so popular its easier to go for the big kill.  However, with PED’s supposedly being rooted out of the game, it remains to be seen if small ball, and with it the stolen base, will return and make a comeback.

Not only was it Warren Buffett Bobblehead night, but it was also dollar hotdog night.  Perhaps our home starting nine had a few too many of the hotdogs or  were worried about when they could sell their bobbleheads on E-Bay, as the Royals are losing in the top of the eighth 7-1.   Fifteen hits on us, ouch.  We get a guy on second and strand him.  Well, at least tonight was warmer. 

Josh Kinney now pitching for Memphis.  He came back from Tommy John surgery last year and may end up in St. Louis this year.  Kinney was part of the Cards’ World Series Team.  This year he’s had trouble with runners in scoring position (21.60 ERA).

Ring in to pitch for Memphis.  One out, bottom of ninth. A few iron lungs out there in the crowd.  Shealy walks.  Infield hit for Lubanski.  It looked to me like the first baseman bobbled the ball, but we’ll take it. Another walk, bases loaded.  Memphis will talk it over.  Falu pops out to right.  It’s over.

I guess the rainout hurt us a bit.

After cancelling their Saturday and Sunday games, the Royals continue their series with the Redhawks.  It was 1-0 until Chris, “the Big” Lubanski drove in two runs in the bottom of the third against Neftali Perez.   Perez, a great prospect who is touted by Baseball Prospectus to be with the Rangers before September, had a bad outing, walking four. Three more runs would come in.

Bottom of the fifth, three more runs come in.  Redhawks are on their third pitcher, Vaughn.  Now 8-1 Royals.

Temperature at gametime was 50, its got to be about 40 right now.  Wind blowing left to right.  It’s 7:15 and we’ve still got one more to play in Omaha.

Hochevar is gone.  He went six innings with seven K’s.  With Ramirez getting beaten up in KC, is Hochevar ready to go back to KC?

Omaha wins in seven innings 8-1.  Hochevar has a 1.44 ERA.  He was also given the win.  He looked very sharp tonight.  

Game 2, up at 8:05 p.m.

Not good, not good.  Phillips allowed a double steal and two runs. Here comes the tee shirt shooter.  On a night like this one of those shirts could hurt.  Fella could lose an eye that way.

Shealy strikes out with runners on second and third.  he can hate the call, but the inning is over.

Something new this year, the Flex Cam.  I think these kids look better than McGwire post roids.  I saw a picture of McGwire on Google.  I think he’s now 5′5 150.

Triple in each game of the doubleheader. Golson for Oklahoma City in the first game and Kila Ka’aihue in the second game.  Royals now down 2-1.

Lubanski might want to call Louisville, he broke two bats tonight.

Royals lose 2-1.

Yankees swept by Red Sox.  It’s not even close.  Someone George Steinbrenner is fuming.  Warning to Joe Girardi, this is the sort of thing that makes you end up as a commentator on ESPN.

   Chien-Ming Wang, indeed, where is the young man who was an ace of the staff until your injury last year?  A 34.50 ERA after three games makes me wonder if there is an injury or if his mechanics are off.

  Of course, during spring training he had a 4.15 ERA.  However, he had only 10 strikeouts in 21.2 innings and 25 hits.  Wang also had four homers in six games that he started. That can’t be good news for New York.

  In looking at his career stats, 2005 and 2008 were the only years he pitched more innings than hits allowed.  Also, 2007 was the only year that Wang had more than 100 strikeouts.  He’s not going to kill you with his heat, so if he can’t locate the ball, well you get what have this year, someone who has as good a chance of getting someone out as Lindsay Lohan being out of the tabloids for a month.  

  There’s a part of me wondering if Wang has lost his stuff, but this is a guy that must watch his location, there’s no strikeout pitcher there.  I also have to think that the injury of last year might still be affecting him.  If it isn’t taken care of soon, it may be a long season. 

  The only remedy for the Yankees might be to send him down to Triple A and see what perhaps a platoon of Ian Kennedy and Philip Hughes might do for the Yankees. There is one more option.  Dare I say it,  dare, dare.  Bring up Kei Igawa, it can’t be any worse than Wang at this point.  The Yankees may as well try to get some work out of him before he completely Carl Pavanos on them.

Watched the Dodgers beat the Giants 7-2 at Chavez Ravine. Barry Zito looked awful.  He walked batters, he hit batters.  Manny walked but did nothing else.  Would it be too much to ask him to actually field his position?  I hear there is no DH in the National League.  I hope the Dodgers realize that.  Of course, they’ll hopefully find out that this is the same cancer that left the Red Sox.  He’s a summer rental on the decline.  Sorry, Joe Torre.  Anyone in the minors you know of who can hit and also actually field in the outfield?  Find him, Joe.

At 12:24 a.m.  on April 9, the life of Nick Adenhart and two others were ended by a drunk driver who fled the scene. Unlike A.E Housman’s protagonist in “To an Athlete Dying Young,” Adenhart is cut down by  an accident that didn’t need to happen.  A young man who had everything before him was murdered just as sure as if he were gunned down in a random shooting. 

  On Wednesday, he had made his debut by throwing six scoreless innings against the Athletics.  With promise ahead of him, Adenhart was struck down at 22.   The Angels’ game was cancelled Thursday.  To Nick Adenhart,

The Angels bring you home and we remember you, goodnight, sweet prince.

A-rod, (April-Rod, A-Fraud), will miss all of April. How convenient that a man recently divulging his steroid use misses a month of criticism. There’s still May-September for that, I guess. But how much can the notoriously fragile man-child take? Such an advantage to be gone for a month. There’s always more kabbalah with Madonna.