St Louis Deserved To Lose Game 2

No pun intended, but it is a cardinal rule in baseball that when the pitcher is clearly having trouble throwing strikes you make him have to throw you some. So when Neftali Feliz showed he couldn’t throw strikes tonight during the first batter he faced, I thought I knew what was coming. I expected Cardinals [...]

Why Verlander Isn’t The AL’s MVP

There’s been way too much talk lately about Justin Verlander deserving the 2011 American League MVP. This just never made enough sense to me. I’m not even one of these guys who thinks a pitcher should never be allowed to win the MVP, but when I look at the stats, I cannot see how a [...]

6.5 Games Back

Believe it or not, as bad as the Pirates have been during their streak of losing seasons, the Royals have been almost as bad. Yes, the Royals have had three seasons over the .500 mark, but they’re only 6.5 games up on the Pirates during this era. As of this morning, Pittsburgh stands at 1259-1660 [...]

Where Did The Pitcher Win Come From?

I’ve often wondered where the idea for giving a pitcher credit for a win came from, because in the mid-19th century, a pitcher was essentially working for the batter. His role in the game was to “feed” the ball to the batter, in the location the batter told him to pitch it, so the batter [...]

Five Ideas for the Pittsburgh Pirates Marketing Team

Everyone knows the Pittsburgh Pirates won’t be winning many games this year, so they need to get a a little creativity in marketing the team. Bill Veeck’s not around anymore, so I’ve come up with five crazy ideas that could make the Pirates a little more worth seeing.

Inflation and Milestone Player Contracts

All the buzz this week about whether or not Albert Pujols would resign with St Louis before the season starts got me thinking about CNNSI’s “Baseball’s Milestone Contracts”, and adjusting their payday for inflation to see how their contracts would compare in 2010.

My 2011 IBWAA Ballot

So it’s that time of year again, when voting for the Hall of Fame gets all the mouths moving. As a member of the IBWAA, I recieved my ballot yesterday for voting and I already made my choices and turned it in. Here’s who I voted for, and some traditional stats showing why I think they’d fit into Cooperstown.

What The 10th Inning Left Out

I don’t like to criticize, but this is bugging me like a ball through Buckner’s legs. The whole time I was watching Ken Burns The 10th Inning, the sequel to his famed nine inning Baseball documentary, I kept waiting for him to get to a variety of historical highlights he never really touched on. Some [...]

What If Pete Rose Played In The 154 Game Schedule?

Have you ever wondered how much the 162 game schedule helped Pete Rose break a record made in the 154 game era? Let’s take a look at how it helped, and how things would’ve played out in an alternate reality where the 154 game schedule was never expanded.