is aj trying to make some kind of point? molina lets him throw strikes?

Good AJ is fun to watch.

Let's hope he's here for the duration of the game ...

That was good.
Where is everybody (else)? Working, I guess.

Nice day for a game. Fo sho.

Five batters, one ball in play so far this game.

would rather be uptown at the game, but perfect day for a slow day at the office

Our team is good.

Hopefully A.J. gets strikes 6 inches off the plate to lefties, too. Geez.

[3] I'm actually at home today. Tummy-ache from too much junk food at the ballpark last night. Worst part was that the Mudhens wound up getting rained out.

[9] Dang. Well, enjoy this one, anyway.

It looks like we might get Nippert out of the game early, huh? A grueling inning for Dustin.

[8] you gotta get to 3 balls to get those calls

Rangers' long relief: yum.

Robbie...........oh ROBBIE. Howz about a hit.

[12] Or the number 1 reason I hope Texas catches Anahiem!

damn, that aerial shot showing the dirtpatch that used to be Yankee Stadium was depressing.

[14] Also the #1 reason they won't, though.

[3] that's one thing i miss about acedmic life

[14] hopefully feliz will have rules in the playoffs

Dang, Robbie. Well struck though.

ohh, nice slice by Cano. Coulda shoulda busted it open there.

Argh, so close to 3 rbi!

Okay, well, 36 pitches for the Nipster. Plus, good AJ (judging by the evidence so far). Good omen, mediocre results so far.

Eleven batters in this game so far. Three balls hit in play.

Maybe this is a True Outcomes game?

[8] got it

that first pitch looked like a screwball. where was the 2nd?

[23] The second was on the outside edge, yeah.

So, movable strike zone today.

Good job AJ. Just don't pitch in Fenway.

Woo hoo, reimbursement check for my DC trip just came. Off to the bank.

Sure would hate to miss the Yankees score 10 runs here. And by "Sure would hate to miss" I mean I wouldn't mind missing it at all.

[24] the strike zone depends entirely on the count. if its 1-0, the pitch is a ball, BUT if its 3-1, the same pitch is a strike.

not that hard to understand.

whoa, Melk pipping Gardner with the steal!

no big deal right now but this umpire really sucks

Juuuuuuuuuust a little outside......

Juuuuuuuuust a bit outside ...

[8] Like I said. : D

=)

Ohhhhhhh.
Oh well.

[33] It's Singleton's fault. He mentioned Michael Kay.

True Outcomes game.

Grrr.

C'mon AJ.

what the fuck no appeal?

Oh, no. MY FAULT [35]!

Oh, FUCK YOU AJ.

FU$%

dang, AJ

didn't cruz clearly swing at the 3-2 pitch?

That's a text book implosion...so predictable, you wonder how it could happen.

[43] If there was a league leader in first comment of the day only after something shitty happens.........
: )

Well, sure, now.

[43] especially with molina behind the plate

[44] My level of commenting doesn't have to be justified to you, but I am pretty sure anyone with time to waste would wind your assessment to be way off base

I'm back. Um, didn't want to see the Yankees behind.

Lead off walk, o.k.

[46] Without seeing the pitches, it doesn't seem like anyone did anything wrong, but when ever a pitcher is cruising, it always seems like a first pitch fastball after a walk or error leads to a bomb.

What's up with Yankee starters and two-outs these days? Seems like every time a run scores, there's two outs.

This calls for a comeback!

YES does a fine job, but I think we've seen enough of that blimp

[48] Perfect through 3 2/3. Then BB, BB, HR, and a K to finish.

[47] someone's testy...is it because Selena Roberts still walks the streets of this nation gone mad?

i'm only half following on gameday - but the one thing i do know is it is not acceptable to lose to someone named dustin nippert - comeback time boys

[47] Not looking for justification. I was making an observation in jest. No offense.

For a manager who likes to bunt at the worst times, it's pretty curious that Jose Molina only has one sac all season.

[54] Well, if Damon walks we might actually lose to a different pitcher...

[55] Observations in jest are usually meant to be offensive.

[50] And, it usually starts with a two out walk. I think this staff definitely needs to stop nibbling and be more aggressive with the bases empty, especially with two outs.

Looks like we need Teix to get on to get rid of Nippert here.

7 walks in 3.2 innings should translate into more than 1 run.

[59] I do think AJ was thinking too much about the Ks.

[62] Could be...looks like there were a lot of curves late in the count to the two batters who walked.

Bet this is Nippert's last batter no matter what.

[61] Guys who with good stuff who walk a lot (like AJ) can be tough to hit because you really never know what's coming and where it will be, which leads to a lot of weak swings.

atta boy, Johnny

Ah.
Bye bye Dustin?

Is ARod hurting? All his hits seem like weak bloops the other way. Thoughts? YEAH TEX!

Great announcing there by Singleton ... pointing out that Davis was forced to hold Damon after Jeter's steal.

Nice.

[67] Yes indeed. And Ms. Oct. may now rest easy: we will not lose to anybody named "Dustin Nippert".

[68] He was hitting line drives all over the park in Fenway. He could have easily had 3 or 4 HRs over the weekend.

[69] I guess the ball went through the hole? That's pretty interesting...a legitimate reason to try and steal 3B with 2 outs.

[65] I was thinking about Dustin. Not sure he's that good of a pitcher.

[69] singleton and cone are just excellent - sorry i am missing them today - they are both very observant about baseball things

[70] yes, feeling much better - time to beat grilli

[72] well, with a LHB up, at least.

It likely manufactured the run there.

[73] Nippert has always been billed as having "good stuff", but his command is poor.

[73] I'm pretty happy to be into the Texas bullpen. Nippert wasn't especially good, but Grilli is considerably worse.
Though I'll miss all those walks we were getting.

Totally off topic:
It's terrible to lose the last of the Kennedy boys.
Truly the end of an era and leaves me feeling a little empty.

[78] if you get a chance go on charlierose.com and check out last night's episode. An appreciation of Teddy with Jon Meacham, Al Hunt, and Doris Kearns-Goodwin...it was excellent.

This is probably the best-pitched 3 ER game I've ever seen.

[80] Yeah. That 1 3 0 line looks bizarre.

[78] It's an interesting generational divide (I assume that's what it is) ... I respect the sentiment but I don't really "get it".

[78] No comment out of respect for the recently departed.

I mean 3 1 0. You know what I meant. : )

[83] Hey, a self-defeating comment! Nicely played.

Sheesh, and we complain about Yankee pitchers not being able to throw strikes . . .

Not that I'm complaining here!

[85] Fair enough...not really a no comment, but lacking specifics out of respect for the recently departed.

[86] You reverse-jinxed Grilli. Four straight strikes since you wrote that!

I hope Feliz is not available today.

[82] well I'm about as far away from a Ronald Reagan fan as it gets, but I definitely understood the outpouring after he died. I think its kinda the same thing.

[90] Reagan had a life outside of politics and also appealed to people from both parties. Kennedy has been a political animal his whole life and hasn't been particularly popular outside liberal circles. Reagan was also a president, which is a very rare and special distinction. I think alot of the outpouring is more for the Kennedy name than for the Senator himself, at least outside of the beltway.

[91] Having been a Massachusetts resident the last 10 years, I can tell you that the outpouring here is about the Senator himself, and not his last name.

I cannot speak for the outpouring in the rest of the country.

[88] Bah. I don't believe in jinxes. Jason Grilli is still Jason Grilli. The balls will come.

[92] Sure, I would expect that for a life-time Senator within his homestate. Of course, his position as a life-time Senator probably did have something to do with his last name.

[92] Come on. This is a family site. heh-heh.

2 H, 3 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 11 K - and if he gets a "loss" there are "baseball analysts" who will use his won-loss record as a way of showing AJ's "value" (or lack thereof). Its nuts.

[92] Oh, but the jinx works even if you don't believe in it.
Nice try, though.

Will history repeat itself?

Kinsler will be looking curve...what will AJ throw?

[91] He had a life outside of politics, but it's his political career that defined him. Its the core of why he matters in a wide scope, I don't think there would've been a week of public mourning for "The Errol Flynn of the B-Movies."

He absolutely warrants special treatment because of his 8 years as President, but one can certainly make the argument that Kennedy's 47 year national career had more lasting impact. I'm not saying that, but you COULD make the argument.

Reagan's supposed appeal to "both parties" is defined largely through the "Reagan Democrats," Kennedy counted Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, and Trent Lott (and others) among his closest friends and allies...so I think their appeal to the opposite side of the aisle was comparable.

Oh, good hustle, Ian!

[93] You might be surprised by the number of people in Mass. who despise that name - yet voted for the guy anyway, because they like what he did for them.

In any case, I see AJ is trying to get his Ks by starting everyone out with a 3-0 count just to show how impressive he is. I'm not sure whether I'm glad I can't see this game right now, or ticked.

really AJ??

[99] Good luck making that argument...

I also don't get the comparison between Reagan appealing to a wide range of the electorate and Kennedy being a good friend to men with whom he worked closely for 20 years. One appeal is ideological and the other is personal.

[98] gameday said 4 straight curveballs to kinsler

With Melky struggling, Molina in the lineup creates a mini black hole.

Why I don't get is the Camelot nonsense and trying to make the Kennedys "America's royalty." We fought a war to get away from royalty and shouldn't want to create a class of nobility here.

I sure would hate for a good AJ outing to be spoiled by one bad pitch.

[101] I wouldn't be surprised at all. When a Senator accumulates power he has the ability to bring home the pork. Chuck Schumer is that way in NY as was the man he replaced, Al D'Amato (who was called Senator Pothole).

[106] Again, I don't think that's a sentiment felt in the country as much as it is one felt among the Washington elite.

I wish Molina had made two outs so that Jeter could have led off next inning.

Okay, never mind that. Good job, Jose, making only one out.

The no look 3-1. Crap.

Dang, I'd like to have one of those Yankee Snoopy dolls.

Er, for my dog that is.

[103] I don't think its an impossible argument to make, for better or worse 47 years is 47 years.

From afar, I always wondered how AJ had such an inflated ERA. Starts like this one and the last are the reason. His performance always seems to trail his stuff.

Really don't like Coke here.

You'd think this would be the perfect time for Hughes, no? Two innings in 1 run game. Phil Hughes is the most wasted resource in baseball.

A-Rod should have taken that one.

boooooooooooooooooooo

ah, shit, Coke.

[114] You nailed it.

and we're off to the races

Rome burns, while Hughes fiddles.

Another stellar ballgame for Joe Girardi. Two losses in this series and both very easy to pin right on his chest.

Jeez.
For some reason I'm not getting upset about this game. It's such a curiosity. (Also the big division lead, I guess.)

[122] It could be down to 5 after tonight.

[115] PeteAbe said Hughes has what, 8 innings pitching in all of August? That's just insanity.

[114] Or ERA is not a good indicator of ability?

[124] Yes, 8 innings.
They, uh, would like to keep him fresh, for... September.

[124] ERA may not be a good indicator of ability, but it is a very good indicator of performance. Other factors definitely play into it, but ultimately, ERA defines a performance. Neyer is way too quick ascribe things to luck. Of course, luck is often the residue of design.

It's amazing how every Yankee loss features an idiotic decision by Joe Girardi. I need to start a blog to keep track.

[125] Its one thing where Torre frags Proctor's arm by throwing him for 100+ innings in a year, when the last time Proctor had started regularly (and threw that many innings) was four years prior.

This ridiculous baby-glove treatment of Hughes is mad. At this rate, he'll finish the year with 80 IP. What happens next year when he starts?

[128] Maybe they plan to give him 50 relief innings in September, to compensate.

sweet ! blown dp! rallytime!

No rally-killing homer here, please!

c''mon Alex

Hey, 130 - 132, now I know what it's like to be a sandwich.

Alex and Zilla serve up the double decker shit sandwich.

heh.. don't fucking bunt here Swish

Maybe the Yankees are trying to lose games to Texas? It sure seems that way.

WIlson was nasty. Bollocks.

Swish makes it a triple decker shit sandwich.

I guess that was good pitching, but he sure got favorable calls on pitches inside to righties, outside to Matsui.

[126] There are better metrics to assess a pitcher's performance than WHIP and ERA.

[128] Proctor's workload hasn't been out of the ordinary; he went from 133 to 85 to 69 to 87 to 102 to 86 innings. Having said that I wish Girardi used Hughes more, even if it meant implementing rules.

This Ron Washington really has to stop bringing in his best relievers. Girardi needs to explain to him that it's no fun if the manager gives his team its best chance to win.

[140] Only if you want to use them to predict the future. For judging the past, ERA is still the best.

DIPS are honestly the best metrics to judge a pitchers performance, things like FIP and DICE...but they're about as easy to understand as Chinese pig latin

[142] It depends on exactly what you're trying to judge. Using ERA means you are going to be giving pitchers credit for some good luck and blame for some bad luck. (The component that isn't predictive is luck, to a first approximation.)

Dude can hit, no doubt.

Crud.

[142] If you can use these metrics to predict the future, I'm sure you can use them to show how well a pitcher has done in the present and past.

[144] Luck aside, runs are the name of the game. Once the game is over, creidt goes out the window. All the metrics from this game will say AJ Burnett was excellent, but he gave up 3 runs in 6 innings. You can point to a whole host of mitigating factors, but this game boils down to three batter stretch that AJ let get away from him. I prefer to hold him responsible for that outcome.

Just think about the possibilities if Girardi had a clue and used Hughes for two innings in this game?

[147] If a pitcher can throw 200 MPH but gives up 4 runs a game because the catcher can't really catch his pitches, he is a poor performer. Once the game is over, all that matters is how many runs were given up versus how many were scored.

[148] I prefer to give no credit or blame for luck. So maybe that's just a fundamental difference.

Anyway, I guess we agree that it's better for the future to have a pitcher who's given up a bunch of unlucky runs than a guy who's luckily prevented runs. So, this game is a good sign for AJ, but plainly not a good result.

[148] wait so thats NOT Girardi's fault?? Well I'll be

[151] The only problem with that is AJ has an entire career of his ERA lagging his ability. My point was after watching him this season, I can now see why that it is. I still like AJ and think he is worth having, but I've alway thought he should be a dominant ace and never really new what kept getting in the way.

[152] Point?

[154] Snark.

but seriously, I don't see how Burnett's failure is his sole responsibility yet the shortcomings of Swisher the other night or Coke today are out of their hands.

[153] Not exactly following you.
You mean in Burnett's case, the ERA is a better predictor than the "advanced" statistics?

[150] No, it means you need to take Venus De Milo out of the catcher's spot.

Ron Washington has impressed me in this series...he is using his best relievers for more than a few batters and in the right spot, he bunts with his lesser hitters and didn't show any sentimentality with Nippert in the 4th. It's only three games, and maybe they were his best, but I would add him to the list of managers I'd rather have over Girardi.

[155] Burnett's failure is his responsibility because the game situation clearly dictated that he be in it. Swisher should not have been bunting, so I don't blame him for failing. Similarly, Coke should not have been in the game, so I don't blame him for givng up three runs. A manager's job is to utilize his players appropriately. I'd think to think that even Girardi realizes that when your starter is perfect through three innings, you leave him in for the fourth.

[157] Have you ever caught a 200mph fastball? Venus De Milo might be the only volunteer.

6 runs please

I guess Washington has not "overmanaged", which I like. But using the closer here is not a good move, not good at all.

[162] It's actually a good move because his closer has been awful over the past 5 or 6 outings. This is a good, low pressure chance to work on some things and maybe gain a little confidence back.

[159] Not to reopen the Swisher debat BUT just because Swisher shouldn't have been bunting in that situation doesn't mean his failure to properly execute a fairly mundane (relatively speaking of course) offensive task isn't his fault...just as Coke's inability to get lefties out and making a boneheaded play on a sac bunt that went directly to A-Rod is on him and him alone.

come on, I know you love you some "personal responsibility" j/k

As things stand, I think all of the potential post season managers are far less likely to screw up their team than is Girardi, so the Yankees will be playing with a handicap. Like with Torre in his later years, I think the Yankees are going to remain a great regular season team that struggles in the playoffs until they hire a competent manager. I really hope Girardi's mandate is to win the World Series because if simply making the playoffs saves his job, the Yankees will be stuck in the same cycle.

[164] That's all well in good...but to me the root cause of the failure is the man who dictated the strategy.

[164] I'm largely with you, but the fact that the players are responsible doesn't at all mean that the manager isn't responsible.

[163] No, he was very good on Aug 16, Aug 17, Aug 23. He did have a stinker against us and a monumental meltdown that game against the BoSox on the 16th.

Well, we had 14 base runners that game. Is there any way we can appeal to SABR to have the outcome overturned?

ah well. giving up too many runs lately. gotta stop that trend

Hopefully the White Sox can win one tonight because 5 games is starting to make a race of it. Meanwhile, in a potential playoff preview, the Yankees inconsistent starters (Joba) and awful manager were kind of exposed.

[167] Oh I'm not absolving him of all of his missteps, I just think his supposed incompetence is way overblown relative to all other managers in the majors. I mean if we all decided we we're going to spend 3 straight weeks watching, lets just say, Phillies games we'd come away from it thinking Charlie Manuel was half-a-step above a mouth breathing moron.

I just think both success and failure are a team result, it wouldn't be right if Girardi got no credit for being at the helm of a team that coming into September is looking like the best team in the AL but when they lose 2 of 3 to the Rangers he's the second coming of Stump.

[171] I guess I am not interested in how he compares to other managers. As someone who watches nearly every inning, I just know how often I have completely disagreed with his decisions, many of which eventually had a major hand in losing. In this series, you had the Swisher bunt and the failure to use Hughes. If either of those decisions was not made, I think the Yankees would have an exponentially better chance of winning both games. These aren’t obscure points of strategy. They are bleedingly obvious mistakes.

[172] Well if you're not going to judge his ability relative to other managers then how can you really hope to measure it? Obviously it's not the best measuring stick in the world, but it's really the only one. You're never gonna find the manager you ALWAYS agree with, you just hope to find the one you disagree with least.

[173] There are other competent managers available, including one who I think was among the better game managers in the team's recent history. If I wanted to give the Yankees the best chance to win a World Series, I would fire Girardi and hire Buck Showalter without a second thought.

For some reason, that was a very frustrating series. Maybe the whole leaving a small village on base thing. I came into the series with mixed feelings, but once it started wanted nothing but wins. Texas would not be a pleasant opponent (although I think that team may be in for a rude awakening if they think taking two of three in YS in August is the same thing as what they'll see in October).

My memory is too foggy at the moment to make a rational argument, but there have been a number of times over the last month when I've felt Girardi has made the exact *right* move in spots both obviously and not quite as obviously important.

I really think the Yanks played a shitty series against the Rangers more than anything else. Joba was absolutely dreadful and buried his team, the bats blew opportunity after opportunity, and we sprinkled some errors over an already sickeningly sweet shit souffle of opponent two out and 0-2, 1-2 hits. AJ deserved better, but it was still infuriating to see him undermine his awesome stuff and 5 2/3rds of strength with 1/3 of an inning of maddening crappiness.

We HAVE to punish the stupid White Sox - they're starting to pull my "meaningless stupid team that I have temporary, disproportionate anger towards." Guillen is a massive douche, and they have played the MOST feckless series against the Red Sox - just a disgusting mix of untimeliness, gutlessness, bad managing, suckiness - they need to be punished, and they've put us into a position where we need to punish them.

Team needs to recommit to a better approach, in the batter's box and in the field. Cano has been so lazy running out his outs, it's hard to watch.

And the Rangers came in hungry and played very well.

[175] I meant to say that Girardi has made the right *pitching* moves in my opinion, in a number of spots in the post above. I realized the post hadn't made clear at all what I was trying to say.

[174] Except there's nothing to suggest that Showalter would give the team a better chance at winning a championship.

He was forced out coming off of a great '94 and a furious comeback and playoff collapse (featuring more than a few questionable game decisions) in '95 for a guy with a below .500 lifetime record...so NATURALLY the guy with the losing record goes to the playoffs every year and wins 6 pennants and 4 championships. Just goes to show its impossible to predict who the right guy for the right team is going to be, its a total roll of the dice.

[177] And not only that, his second crack at the playoffs didn't go too well either. Bounced a year later, and the guy who takes over for him wins a championship despite trying to give the series away.

[178] EXACTLY! Brenly wasn't just a bad game manager, he was downright horrendous...it was like he was teaching a seminar on how to get fired out there. And yet he gets a ring while Buck sits in Bristol getting hugged by Harold.

As much as I like Showalter, I think that him not having a managerial job since Texas is telling. Either he doesn't want to deal with it, or teams don't want to deal with him.

[143] Whoaaaaaaa - FIP is about as easy to understand as tying your shoes. And at the moment, my opinion is that it is a piece of shit statistic, and used way to often with ridiculous sample sizes. Just look at the formula - it reeks of oversimplification, puts the HR factor off the charts, They already admit that it doesn't work for knuckleballers - but I suspect there are many other pitchers it does not accurate assess. It's been heavily criticized, and there are adaptations of it that have been created to address some of its problems. I do not like plain old FIP.

Ugh, a billion typing errors in that post. I need to jet.

featuring more than a few questionable game decisions

I dunno, I do understand leaving Cone in there. Not too sure about the 3-2 slider. Even though he was lit up the night before, I was a bit surprised that Wetteland wasn't out there to nail it down (he did pitch 3 scoreless innings in game 2, and did get the save in game 1). Rivera was a nice surprise, I'm sure he could've played a bigger role in that series.

Game 4 was pretty wild. Game 2 was the best game I had ever attended until Cone's perfect game in 99.

And at the moment, my opinion is that it is a piece of shit statistic, and used way to often with ridiculous sample sizes.

Like ERA?

I thought Showalter handled the 1995 ALDS well, even if he probably should have gone to Wetteland in game 5 (although I though going to Black Jack was a good idea at the time). Shwoalter's problem has never been managing the game...it's been managing relationships. I am pretty confident that after his experiences in Texas and Arizona, he has learned to ease off a bit. Besides, this team is very low maintenance with the exception of a few players. What the Yankees need is a manager who is exceptionally well prepared and very savy from a strategy standpoint. Showalter is both of those things.

Huh, I left this game with the Yanks down 3-2. Upon my return I found the game over, 7-2 Rangers. Did not expect that. Seems like the Yankees hitters had a bad day. Two runs isn't gonna cut it. The Rangers taking 2 of 3 at Yankee Stadium is bad too. I'm not in love with the idea of losing a game in the standings either. Hopefully the Red Sox lose tonight.

Burnett was okay. If Chamberlain turned in this performance, people would be calling it a gem.

I didn't get to see Girardi screw anything up, but like I said, seems like the batters weren't getting it done today, more than anything else.

[175] "And the Rangers came in hungry and played very well."

Yeah and then there's that. The hungry part makes me nervous.

[175],[187] I suppose they can arrange for a pregame buffet, I suppose...

william

you make some great points.
your explanation of what you like about Ron Washington's managing [158] is very clear, with concrete examples. I appreciate that.

but, OTOH [185]
I am pretty confident that after his experiences in Texas and Arizona, he has learned to ease off a bit.
there's pretty much no basis for that statement. Until you're actually in the clubhouse with someone on a regular basis, you're basically guessing/trusting the media's reports. Considering Showalter hasn't been in the clubhouse regularly since his experiences in Texas, even he isn't exactly sure how his current managing persona has changed from before.

I pretty much agree with Raf [180] on Showalter. There's got to be a fairly simple reason why he hasn't managed in years.

According to the New York Post's Page Six an "insider" tells the paper that Jeter and "Friday Night Lights" star Minka Kelly are engaged.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Well.... that would certainly kill any future sleepovers for ARod.

[184] I'm going to assume that you understood that anyone who posted what I posted recognizes the limits of that statistic, and were just stating the obvious.

I do have some serious concerns about FIP as the proper direction of repositioning the basic concept of something like ERA - from what I can tell, there are better replacements available, and I have plenty of ideas (but neither the data resources/computational muscle power/time) as to what things I would put into a reconfigured stat.

ERA is obviously limited. FIP just seems like a terribly imperfect effort to replace it.

[191] FIP is pretty easy, but anyone who claims dERA or DICE is simple is a liar...and quite possibly a terrible human being.

yeah I said it Posnanski!!

[189] I am basing my opinion of Showalter on three things: (1) Interviews he has given in which he has admitted to be a little too anal, particularly during his stint in Arizona. (2) Comments from Michael Kay, who is very close to Showalter. (3) His personality on Baseball Tonight. He definitely seems more relaxed as a media person, which I think would actually help him deal better with them on the other side.

[191] I agree with much of what you said. I would also add that while ERA is imperfect, at least it is only a measure of what happened. ERA just tells you how many earned runs were allowed per nine innings. It doesn't pretend to do anything more. FIPS, however, is sometimes portrayed as a magic determinant of what MIGHT have happened under static conditions.

I was there for this, in the million degree heat.

I've completely lost patience with Phil Coke. I knew the homer was coming. You knew the homer was coming. He knew he homer was coming. I'm sure Girardi did. Enough.

[193] I'm sorry, but that's really not very convincing, it's easily explained as lobbying for another managing position ("Take me back, please! I promise I've learned! I'll be better this time! I've changed! REALLY!"),with help from buddy M.Kay. Even Larry Bowa can seem like an easy-going guy in a TV studio, far from the field, when he is commenting on games for which he has no stake in the outcome.

I wouldn't want Showalter as manager.

Hey, Team. Home from the Game with the kid and nephew. First of all, the Stadium was nice, but by no means nice enough to justify itself compared to the old place, imo. I did really appreciate just how reminiscent of the old place it is. There were times I actually settled in only to realize later that I was not, in fact, in the ballpark of my childhood. So that's a good thing.
And the al fresco aisles really are fabulous. A great feature. Again, not quite great enough, but credit where it's due.

As to the game itself? Horse shit. By the time we were issued our sixth walk with one run to show for it while they'd been issued two with three runs to show for it, I was mad.

Mad, mad, mad.

It's a good thing we have a lead because I'd have really been throwing things otherwise. As it was, I was able to slough it off easily enough.

Hope I get to go to another game this season. The experience really was every bit as enjoyable as ever. It's a gorgeous field.

Speaking of which, I caught a glimpse of the great void where the old field used to be on the 4, through the sliver in the Stadium. It was deeply unsettling.

I won't say it was as unsettling as suddenly not having the World Trade Center be there, but it was the same genre of unsettlement. It looked like an apocalyptic dream.

Oh, and before the game, they had some kind of military tribute or whatever on the big screen, which caught my son's eye, "Oh, the military!...Why is baseball so connected to the military, anyway?"

"Good question, my son, good question."

[197] an old college professor of mine actually wrote a book on the origin of that very question

http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Blue-Gray-National-Pastime/dp/0691130434/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251418029&sr=1-3

I never read it, but he knew his stuff...although he was a Red Sox fan.

The Yankees always had a lefty whose entire job was to come in and walk another lefty. I didn't really understand, but everyone else seemed to think it was normal enough.

Now we have the lefty who comes in to give up HR to lefties.

Has baseball passed me by?

[192] Why is DICE complicated? Looks like a pretty simple formula.

I'm someone who loves numbers but has been kind of busy for the last few years, so I'll only start to examine a particular advanced statistic when it starts to get shoved down my throat repeatedly or if it somehow piques my interest at the right moment when I have a little time on my hands.

FIP, though it's been around longer, has seemed to be a big hit this summer, and from everything I can tell so far, I dislike it. Looking at DICE, is the only difference between FIP and DICE the use of HBP and a slightly different adjusting number?

dERA definitely looks complicated.

I always think the big thing people can lose with statistics is the core idea: the goal should always be to reflect reality more accurately, to strip away *real* things so that we are left with the thing we want to examine - I like to think of statistics very visually, almost imagining myself erasing the elements (a third baseman, an excess of foul territory, a really, really stupid wall from a glorified softball stadium, etc.) that I want to strip out so that I can compare the one thing to the other.

I like to believe that this approach makes sure that you hew closer to reality as you push beneath the surface. Remember when people thought defense was overrated and unquantifiable? I wrote a very strong 5/8ths of an article destroying cERA, but also the "proof" that there was no difference between one defensive catcher and another, including all sorts of statistical proof of the inadequacy of the article's positions, and then had my attention diverted. It was obvious to me, from the first moment of looking at what the guy - I think he may have been a university prof - was doing with his catching statistics was ignoring all the realities of what makes or might make two backstops different.

Sometimes thinking about the differences that you know exist or that you think might exist, or that you think could exist, and then trying to statistically represent them to see if they hold up can be a better approach. Just throwing together a bunch of numbers can lead you to make huge mistakes in representing reality. Imo.

[194] The pitch that I knew was going to yield a home run for sure was Burnett's. I knew it with all my heart that Kinsler's HR was coming. I wasn't quite so bothered because I was certain we were going to score a lot more.

Why so much hate for Coke, though? When he's bad, it seems to go really bad, but he's had many more good outings than bad ones over the last two months, including some reasonably big spots, no? Particularly when used as a LOOGY for one or two batters, I've liked what I've seen.

I know he was atrocious today. Of course, I don't think it helped him to have ARod stumble right into his kitchen to stand there and be all obstacle-like when he tried to field the bunt. And I think that rattled him. Anyone have a stat for that? "Fielding success on ground balls when interfered with by an all-star third baseman with an only partially repaired hip and sometimes questionable judgment." Or even just how to strip that sort of event out of broader performance...