Baseball Notes - June 2nd, 2006
I've got to come up with a better title for these entries. If you have any suggestions, send them in.
"Farnsy" Blows Save
My expectations of Justin Verlander were very high, and he did look good (at all) last night. Still, the Tigers found a way to come up a win. The most important factor in last night's Tigers win was Mariano Rivera not being available to pitch after his 3-innning outing in Tuesday night's Yankee win. Rivera wasn't available after he hurt his back while getting dressed before the game.
With an injury like that, you have to suspect that his 3-inning outing on Tuesday night had something to do with it. Three innings is a lot to ask out of your closer, especially at this stage of the season, and even more so when you consider Rivera is 35 years old. Sure, the Yankees got the win that night, but that meant that for the rest of the series, Rivera likely wasn't available.
And that means that in a pitcher's ballpark, against a very good team, you're best option at closer is Kyle Farnsworth, who isn't known for pitching well in pressure situations. And closing for the Yankees is always a pressure situation.
The Weekend Ahead
Some noteworthy games/series to look at this weekend:
6/2/2006 - LA Angels at Cleveland - Jered Weaver will be looking for his 2nd career win in his 2nd career start tonight in Cleveland. That's a tough draw for the lanky right-hander as Cleveland is 2nd in the league in runs scored (8 behind the Yankees) and exploded for 12 runs off the White Sox last night.
6/2-6/4 - Cincinnati at Houston. Now that the Astros have Clemens signed, it'll be important for them to remain in contention until he's ready to make his 2006 debut. Houston trails Cincinnati by 2.5 games heading into this weekend's series, and with Milwaukee hosting Washington all weekend, the Astros could find themselves in 4th place by the end of the weekend.
6/2-6/4 - AL East / NL West races - With 2.5 games separating the 1st place Red Sox from the 3rd place Blue Jays, there could be some movement in the standings this weekend. Boston is in Detroit, the best team in the AL, while New York goes to Baltimore and Toronto heads down to Tampa.
In the NL West, Arizona has a half-game lead on the Dodgers, and both teams square off against playoff-caliber NL east teams. The Diamondbacks are in Hotlanta (where they won the first of four games, 2-1) while the Dodgers host the Phillies (who they beat last night, 7-2).
FOX Ruins Baseball on Saturdays
As a devoted baseball fan, and subscriber to the Extra Innings package, it's downright maddening to see FOX pull it's Baby Huey act on Saturday afternoons during the summer.
Since I live in the Northeast, I'm likely going to be saddled with the Giants-Mets game, even though the Angels-Indians game is of more interest since Boston is an AL city. And since the Extra Innings package cannot broadcast any games opposite those FOX are broadcasting, 40% of the Saturday schedule, including the Yankees-Orioles game at 4:35pm, which won't be on opposite any FOX game in the Boston area, since we're perceived to have already gotten our baseball "fix" for the day with the Giants-Mets game.
I understand that FOX pays a lot money for the rights to broadcast certain MLB games on Saturday afternoons, but I don't see why the Extra Innings package should be any different than the NFL's Sunday, which gives local channels exclusive access to the national TV game, but allows for other games to broadcast on the subcriber channels.
FOX already has exclusive rights for the AL and NL Championship Series and the World Series, so why horde in on Saturday afternoon games in June?
The Demise of Baseball Weekly
For the past 8-9 years, not a Wednesday had gone by during the baseball season where I hadn't stopped off and picked up USA Today's Baseball Weekly. Each issue had superb columns, fun facts, important notes about minor leaguers, and Mike Ricigliano's weekly cartoons are were, and still are, hilarious.
The main course of this weekly baseball feast was the phenomenal statistics package they included with each issue. For someone like me, Baseball Weekly was a quick, non-electronic resource for consultation on trades, be they for my fantasy baseball or Strat-o-Matic team(s), and it was a handy guide to have at your side when watching the game on TV. With complete statistics, including sabermetric data, it was almost as if baseball fans were getting a 75-cent Bill James Handbook every week.
Even when "Baseball Weekly" morphed into "Sports Weekly", the stats package remained unchanged. As the price of the weekly publication rose (it's now $1.75), it was still a bargain for the amount of information it held.
However, I've purchased my last issue. They've added a NASCAR section (um, that's not a sport, fellas), even though they've flat-out ignored the NBA and NHL (which I believe still exists). And their worst transgression to date: They've reduced the baseball statistics package to rubble.
C'mon, USA Today, gives us our stat package back! While it's true that most people just look that stuff up when they're online, it's good to have it in print for the times we're not glued to the computer. Like when we're at the ballpark, or on the train or bus on our way to work.
"Farnsy" Blows Save
My expectations of Justin Verlander were very high, and he did look good (at all) last night. Still, the Tigers found a way to come up a win. The most important factor in last night's Tigers win was Mariano Rivera not being available to pitch after his 3-innning outing in Tuesday night's Yankee win. Rivera wasn't available after he hurt his back while getting dressed before the game.
With an injury like that, you have to suspect that his 3-inning outing on Tuesday night had something to do with it. Three innings is a lot to ask out of your closer, especially at this stage of the season, and even more so when you consider Rivera is 35 years old. Sure, the Yankees got the win that night, but that meant that for the rest of the series, Rivera likely wasn't available.
And that means that in a pitcher's ballpark, against a very good team, you're best option at closer is Kyle Farnsworth, who isn't known for pitching well in pressure situations. And closing for the Yankees is always a pressure situation.
The Weekend Ahead
Some noteworthy games/series to look at this weekend:
6/2/2006 - LA Angels at Cleveland - Jered Weaver will be looking for his 2nd career win in his 2nd career start tonight in Cleveland. That's a tough draw for the lanky right-hander as Cleveland is 2nd in the league in runs scored (8 behind the Yankees) and exploded for 12 runs off the White Sox last night.
6/2-6/4 - Cincinnati at Houston. Now that the Astros have Clemens signed, it'll be important for them to remain in contention until he's ready to make his 2006 debut. Houston trails Cincinnati by 2.5 games heading into this weekend's series, and with Milwaukee hosting Washington all weekend, the Astros could find themselves in 4th place by the end of the weekend.
6/2-6/4 - AL East / NL West races - With 2.5 games separating the 1st place Red Sox from the 3rd place Blue Jays, there could be some movement in the standings this weekend. Boston is in Detroit, the best team in the AL, while New York goes to Baltimore and Toronto heads down to Tampa.
In the NL West, Arizona has a half-game lead on the Dodgers, and both teams square off against playoff-caliber NL east teams. The Diamondbacks are in Hotlanta (where they won the first of four games, 2-1) while the Dodgers host the Phillies (who they beat last night, 7-2).
FOX Ruins Baseball on Saturdays
As a devoted baseball fan, and subscriber to the Extra Innings package, it's downright maddening to see FOX pull it's Baby Huey act on Saturday afternoons during the summer.
Since I live in the Northeast, I'm likely going to be saddled with the Giants-Mets game, even though the Angels-Indians game is of more interest since Boston is an AL city. And since the Extra Innings package cannot broadcast any games opposite those FOX are broadcasting, 40% of the Saturday schedule, including the Yankees-Orioles game at 4:35pm, which won't be on opposite any FOX game in the Boston area, since we're perceived to have already gotten our baseball "fix" for the day with the Giants-Mets game.
I understand that FOX pays a lot money for the rights to broadcast certain MLB games on Saturday afternoons, but I don't see why the Extra Innings package should be any different than the NFL's Sunday, which gives local channels exclusive access to the national TV game, but allows for other games to broadcast on the subcriber channels.
FOX already has exclusive rights for the AL and NL Championship Series and the World Series, so why horde in on Saturday afternoon games in June?
The Demise of Baseball Weekly
For the past 8-9 years, not a Wednesday had gone by during the baseball season where I hadn't stopped off and picked up USA Today's Baseball Weekly. Each issue had superb columns, fun facts, important notes about minor leaguers, and Mike Ricigliano's weekly cartoons are were, and still are, hilarious.
The main course of this weekly baseball feast was the phenomenal statistics package they included with each issue. For someone like me, Baseball Weekly was a quick, non-electronic resource for consultation on trades, be they for my fantasy baseball or Strat-o-Matic team(s), and it was a handy guide to have at your side when watching the game on TV. With complete statistics, including sabermetric data, it was almost as if baseball fans were getting a 75-cent Bill James Handbook every week.
Even when "Baseball Weekly" morphed into "Sports Weekly", the stats package remained unchanged. As the price of the weekly publication rose (it's now $1.75), it was still a bargain for the amount of information it held.
However, I've purchased my last issue. They've added a NASCAR section (um, that's not a sport, fellas), even though they've flat-out ignored the NBA and NHL (which I believe still exists). And their worst transgression to date: They've reduced the baseball statistics package to rubble.
C'mon, USA Today, gives us our stat package back! While it's true that most people just look that stuff up when they're online, it's good to have it in print for the times we're not glued to the computer. Like when we're at the ballpark, or on the train or bus on our way to work.
posted by dodgers-winner-baseball at 10:17 PM
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