Alex Rodriguez is still out, but C.C. is on the hill.
While we wait for the game to start, check out this interview with Marc Carig over at The Yankee Analysts. Nice job by Carig and Moshe Mandel.
Brett Gardner LF
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Mark Teixiera 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Eduardo Nunez 3B
Francisco Cervelli C
Never mind the preamble: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Drawing by Larry Roibal]
Wait, I'm 5 minutes late and it's already 1-0.
On yet another homerun from the freakin' Athletics?!?!?!?
Aaaaargh.
Jeebus, already down 1-0?
Yep - coco crisp nailed a ball to lf.
Line drive in the box score.
BRUTAL
Oh joy, lined into DP.
Really? Carlos Pena?
[7] And he fits in, where, exactly? DFA Andruw?
[8] Other side of the plate. It's JoPo he'd be taking at bats from.
Well, fuck.
[9] So . . . Have a guy ride the pine, not even a BUC, great roster management. Pena has to be on the roster before Sept. 1 for post season eligibility. Can't see them DFAing Jorge.
[11] Yeah, it seems a whole lot of dicking around for a fairly marginal upgrade ...
Yup, Cap'n is so washed up.
Cap'n!
The hits today just make last night's bunt even more painful...
Now that's how CC is supposed to pitch. Glad he remembered.
And that's how Robbie's supposed to hit. Now cash him in.
Are we gonna talk about the hurricane soon? NY is predicted to get 100 mph winds.
Nice sac, Jorge. (that's the way I saw it.)
Yes, it's obviously fair, you idiot.
WTF? Oy vey, fair ball.
Why didn't he run?
What's he looking all aggrieved about?
Well, that sucking fucked.
So is Kim on vacation or is this new Curry thing here to stay?
Anyone?
Mini-recap, anyone? 1-1 game in late August..yawn..
Hey Frankie!
[24] I just assumed she was taking a little break. We would have heard something if she was really gone, I'm sure.
[25] A's homer in the first, Yanks botch some scoring opportunities, CC looking good now.
[27] Try that again as a haiku.
Here, I'll start:
A's homer in first.
[28] Oh, it's a haiku if you translate to Japanese. I was leaving that as an exercise for Mr. OK.
Oh, okay, okay.
Line 2:
Yankees earn bases but stall
[30] I have more pressing matters to attend to..Mrs.Jazz comes froma family of musicians and artists, maybe the ONLY J people to never watch baseball..she cannot tell the difference between Derek and A-Rod..how to explain the difference? Banter commenters: Go!
No, Michael, seriously? The way you make great leaps batting-average-wise is by getting a lot of hits?
I'm going to have to think this through. That could be right, but it's so revolutionary.
[32] Oh, that is a nice challenge. This will take some thought.
Just to be clear: the problem is to describe the contrast in their whole personae, right? Not just their performance between the lines.
[33] Oh, god, did he say that? I missed it.
Final line:
CC looks good now.
All together:
A's homer in first.
Yankees earn bases but stall.
CC looks good now.
[34] Exactly. And in terms she can understand. This is someone who can probably name 3 baseball players, 2 of them being Ichiro and Matsui..so music or pop culture comparsions may work better.
Wait, what's that with the car?
[32] One plays dexter to the other, on the reverse, the other plays sinister to one.
Hee hee.
OHHHHHHH, HE'S OUTTTT!!
FUCKING ROBBIE, EVERY FUCKING DAY WITH THIS KID!
Oh, fuck yes.
Rob can do everything.
ROBBIECANODONTCHAKNOW!!!
This Robbie Cano is a god among baseball players.
Jesus.
Very close. Couldn't argue either way
Every day.
Every day.
[32] I'd go with the purple lips ...
I'm glad we didn't trade him when he exasperated us those couple of seasons ago.
Nice defense, boys!
[36] Right.
The problem is that there are few icons who are similar to A-Rod. Jeter would be easier. Quincy Jones. But for A-Rod you need someone great at music, but not liked and kind of douchey.
[46] Sad to say, I think Melky was a not good influence. Too much clubbing. Though that didn't hurt Babe, The Mick and countless others.
CORNFLAKE!!!
Good, somebody around here can hit!
Nice hit, Swish!
[49] You know what, I think you're right about that.
[48] You mean like Miles?
[54] Blasphemy!!! Miles the coolest cat in history, bar none!
I was thinking it's more like that old Simpsons episode where thery show the tv debate between JFK and Nixon..that sort of summed up their repsective images..
[54] I did think of Miles, but, douchey, like A-Rod? A-Rod isn't surly, mean, etc. He's just... you know.
Hmm..I got a "awating moderation" for the following:
Blasphemy! Miles the coolest cat in history, bar none!
I was thinking it's more like that old Simpsons episode where thery show the tv debate between JFK and Nixon..that sort of summed up their repsective images..
Yo, my Miles comments are awating moderation now..WTF? no cursing..
[55] Yeah. I know. He just leapt to mind.
So what are we looking for, essentially, an ego-maniac with preternatural ability?
Like Sir Paul?
[59] Yes, that would make sense. If his narcissism doesn't exactly match A-Rod's in manifestation, we could let that pass.
Mr. OK, your comments are showing up, no problem. At least, we did get that one that starts 'Blasphemy...'
[57] But then you only get a match in image. Don't you want also the contrast in playing? Or no?
[60] Hmm..now they're here. See, even the SLIGHTEST negative vibe towards Miles can disrupt the space-time continuim.
Sorry, not sure why that one didn't show up.
Cahill finally pitched well against the Yanks though.
[61] No, because the contrast in playing is evident to anyone who looks at the stats. For Mrs. Jazz, that is meaningless anyways..I tried to tell her Jeter was Bill Clinton, does anything and people still love him round the world. A-Rod was Al Gore, perhaps even smarter than Clinton but constant foot-in-mouth problem..but not happy with this comparison either.
[65] Whoa, that's pretty good, Clinton and Gore!
Hilarious slow pitch by Fuentes to Jetes, 2-0.
ARGH.
Nuts.
Is it that hard to get a small little single?
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
We'd better win this fucking game.
[70] It is.
Baseball is hard.
[72] And unpredictable.
God, I didn't realize this was the 8th until Michael said so. This game has flown by.
[73] Haha, I tried explaining John Sterling and "unpredictable" to a Japanese baseball fan friend..didn't take. "But Mr. OK Jazz, in Japan, baseball is a fine science. With full effort and proper strategic moves (sac bunting, etc) it is likely to see who will win.."
[57] Perhaps the banter prefers The Bird to Miles? Not that I am any judge of this. But I'm more partial to the blues over jazz
Huh. In a 2-0 count! That seems wrong.
Fuck.
Sigh.
How come they could get a hit of CC but we couldn't get a it off whoever the fuck that was?
Don't answer that.
So no W for CC!
1st and 3d no out 1 run game in the 7th. When you can't score, you don't deserve to win.
[75] Hahahahahah!!
[82] I know, but I like to win even when we don't deserve it.
Come on, D-fucking-Rob!
Where was that pitch?
High?
FUCK!!!
Oh, come on. That's not right.
Dammit.
ByeBye first place.
Channeling MattPat here but I find losing to the A's and the insufferable Billy Beane to be most unacceptable.
Shit - missed a triple play by thaaaat much
Whew. Good positioning by Jetes, too.
Rally!
[75] You gotta have wa!
Fucking tex message!!!
There ya go!
Baseball is easy.
About time, loaf pincher!
Yay!
=)
Yaaaayyyy!!!!
That was some motherhumping shot.
What a BOMB
Good cut there, Rob.
Another good cut...
Damn, Robbie just missed two in a row.
Shit.
Teix Message!!
[93] You bet!
C'mon Jorge, show what you think of Carlos Pena ...
Rather be lucky than good, Nunie.
And now, some bad luck.
Wow. Good shot, Eric.
Interesting, I would have left D-Rob in there. Not because of Mo, just because I want to be ready in case the Yanks don't score in the ninth.
I don't like extra innings.
[110] Free baseball? You don't like free baseball???
Good work, Mo.
He's gotta come back out for the tenth, right?
[111] Tonite, I don't. I've got to leave for dinner in about 10 minutes.
C'mon, walk-off-pie-shot time!
[112] "Ain't gonna be no tenth!" "Don't want one."
I may have to name the second son Fautino De Los OK Jazz, what a cool name. This is the guy Kay was raving about a few weeks ago, right?
Come on, Brettman...
Filthy.
This guy does not look like a fun AB
Curtis keeps doing this.
He's really not seeing the ball well these days.
Dang.
I bet he pitches the tenth, too, that sunovabitch.
Eek, that was an inning of nasty.
Alright folks, gotta run, so I'll leave the game in your capable hands!
Go Yanks!
Hey RIYank, thanks for discussing that bunt issue with me in the other thread. If you get a chance, I've posted another question about it for you over there. Thanks.
Goddamn it.
I'm so fucking pissed off now.
Yeah.
That's why I would have let D-Rob pitch the ninth.
Losing two games to Oakland is completely unacceptable.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
booooo
Coco Crisp..
Nice hustle Robbie
[121] Ah, well, now that this game doesn't deserve my attention...
The Win Expectancy data I was using goes back to 1957, and it uses all games, all situations. You really need as much as possible to iron out sample size glitches. It's not really relevant whether the teams in the data base used a lot of bunting, because what I was looking at was the contrast between the two situations, the one before a successful bunt and the other after. In other words, the bunt itself didn't have to be included in the data because it was just the difference between the situations I compared.
Besides the probabilities you mentioned, we'd need the prob. of Jeter getting a double, homer... other significant events. It's cumbersome. So for this reason, it's wiser to rely on the big, general Win Expectancy data, and then try to adjust for whatever is special to the situation. (Jeter's avg., bunting ability, third basemen's fielding ability, etc.)
Horseshit.
Oh well.
Hey, there's Mattpat. Just in time for the loss.
Wretched loss. R.So had been pitching so well recently..
And Sox crushed the Rangers..sigh..
[129] Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation. I realize that it would be cumbersome, but I would still like to see those numbers (assuming we could get a large enough sample) before I totally dismiss the bunt in that situation.
Back to the Win Expectancy. Do you have a link to that data? I've seen some of it in the past but nothing that goes back as far as you mentioned. I would like to read more about it.
[133] Just one correction: I didn't say totally dismiss the bunt! I said it's a wash. The chance of winning the game is pretty nearly equal for the two situations. So it will come down to things like, how hot is/was Jeter? How likely was he to actually reach base on the bunt? How likely was he to screw up the bunt so the runners didn't get to advance? Etc.
Sure, here's a link to a very nice gadget, the Win Expectancy Finder. It's fun to play around with.
[134] Thanks for the clarification. What I should have said was "before I decided to not go with the bunt in that situation". I will check that link out. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions for you after I do. ;-) Thanks for the interesting discussion. I don't post as much around these parts as I used to...I need to start dropping by more often. I miss this place...
Hey RIYank, if you are still around. Someone else posted over in the other thread with a good question about that Win Expectancy stat. I had been wanting to ask you the same question: Don't the Win Expectancy numbers include BOTH the bunt case and the non-bunt case? Shouldn't you look at the Win Expectancy percentage of the bunt scenario WITHOUT those cases when the team didn't bunt?
[136] It is good to see you, Bama!
[137] Thanks! I usually drop by daily to read the blog, but I just don't post as much as I used to. Maybe I'll start dropping by the game threads again, they seem a little more tame these days than the way I remember them back in the day... ;-)