The Book

So, let me get this straight: if going into the sixth inning of a game your team is down by nine runs, baseball etiquette dictates that you basically stop trying to win?  At least, this is how I understand Cleveland’s indignation over B.J. Upton’s stolen bases in the sixth on Thursday night.  And pumped up with self-righteous outrage, they sent a closer into the eighth inning of Sunday’s game with the express purpose of hitting Upton–THREE DAYS LATER?

I realize that I’m new to baseball but is it safe to say that this is really stupid?  
On a different note, I’m enjoying this article on the history of balks and reading Miguel Batista’s poetry.

Double Happiness

Last night, my two favorite teams had tremendous victories.  The Mets pulled together a late inning rally to beat the Giants for a second straight game.  And the Rays–the Rays!–diligently chipped away at Cleveland’s 7-run advantage, tying it with Zobrist’s fantastic homer in the eighth and culminating Upton’s homer in the bottom of the ninth–his first all season!  Starting for the Rays and Mets, pitchers Kazmir and Hernandez, struggled, gave up runs and left their games early.  So it seems appropriate that these wins went to relievers: Wheeler and Stokes, respectively.  Fantastic work from both bullpens, especially from Lance Cormier of the Rays.

Critics and fans have been hard on David Wright and B.J. Upton this season, but in their respective games last night they were phenomenal.  The image that lingers this morning is Upton running into the arms of his teammates, all of them gathered together, ready to greet him at home.

One Pitch, One Out

The name for this blog is inspired by Mets reliever #43 Brian Stokes.

Allow me to explain with an example:  Today’s game, Mets vs Braves
Top of the fifth, Stokes comes in to replace Niese, two outs, the Braves have a guy on base.  One pitch….one out.  End of inning.
Top of the sixth, Stokes returns (!), one pitch, one out, one pitch, two outs.  The next out took a few more pitches but was a strikeout.
Gives this guy more innings!

First Post: Bullpen Factoids

The silver lining, if you can call it that, in a Mets loss is that it inspires very passionate and stubborn commentary and analysis that, as a relatively new fan, I can learn from.  All kinds of graphs, statistics, numbers come out–mixed and remixed like alchemy.  On the one hand, trying to distill some understanding of why Manuel can’t manage his bullpen–on the other, coming up with  the magic potion that will prevent this mess in the future.  There wasn’t much that I liked about this game but here were a few highlights:

1.  Bullpen factoids: Bullpen relievers are like translators, seemingly acknowledged only when they really screw up.  The bullpen factoid that screened with each reliever offered some positive visibility (which was then promptly clouded).  
2.  Stokes: So he gave up an earned run–his first in 13 1/3 innings–but he can throw a strike.  And why Manuel didn’t bring him in against Diaz is a question that many are asking.  At least, he’s back.
3.  Live screen of left field play.  I’m not sure when they started doing this, but thank you! Citi Field.  Having an extremely limited view of LF is frustrating, especially because Daniel Murphy makes that corner so entertaining.  Also, mark my words, someone is bound to topple off the promenade trying to catch a view of Murphy not catching the ball.  
4.  Tim McGraw’s father was a Mets pitcher and coined the expression “ya gotta believe.”  Had no idea.  Slowly acquiring a sense of Mets history, one factoid at a time.
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