Easy top of the first.

Way to go, Phelpsy.

Yes, Michael, that's exactly it. Bedard "has the pedigree of knowing how to pitch." So well put.

Ichi-go-go-go!!!

Way to go, Suzuki-y.

Way to go, Nixy.

Oh well, we at least got one.

I see Ben Francisco's right handedniess was just too much to resist

Rob having a little snack. Hey, you get hungry out there.

It's David "The Minimum" Phelps!

It can only get better for Francisco, right?

I love 8-pitch walks when our guys get them. When Hughes delivers one it just drives me nuts. (Those are two sides of the same coin.)

Bad luck, Francisco-y.

Another eight-pitch walk!

[12] With Hughes, its frustrating because it usually starts 0-2, includes at least two absurdly absurd waste pitches, and three fouls.

[13] If I didn't know better, I'd say you're mocking baseball nicknames.

But I know better

Atta boy, Bedard. Keep chucking garbage.

It's time consuming, but I'm in favor of the opposing pitcher walking the bases loaded to start the season.

[15] Yeah, that's pretty much what Bedard did with Hafner. With Francisco it was 1-2, but still. Almost every 8-pitch walk involves something infuriating (for the pitching team) like that.

Of course, I have no serious objection to a 4-pitch walk to Nuñezy.

I'm listening to the game. Did Overbay just swing on the first pitch after three consecutive walks, the last on four pitches?

That was pretty much the worst at bat you could imagine.

That's more like it! Good job, Chrissy.

Yeah, hm, how come Francisco didn't advance on the sac fly? Coulda scored on that.

Good work, Ichiro-y!

[20] Yes. Now I have to clean up the blood that shot from my eyes.

Only one run there? Yeesh.

Gosh.
I, uh, hope... Ivan Nova... gets better... soon.
Hm.

I mean, the Astros stink, I know. But David Phelps is a keeper.

Phelps-y!

Rob go boom.

That'll do

Oh, sorry Cult!

Incompetent Yankee fans.

Hey, look at that!

I always liked Ben Francisco.

Damn, three walks and an infield hit in one inning, then two homers the next. That's highly inefficient.

[34] Absolutely, I can confirm that. You've been saying all along that you looked forward to seeing him exploit his platoon advantage against lefties.

Ben Francisco with the golden gait.

Nuñe6.

Uh oh.

Hoo boy.

OK, what did they replace Phelps with?

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR.

This is no good.

Crap

Phelps going phlat. Please end this misery.

Chien-Ming Wang is sporting a 0.95 ERA for the RailRiders. Maybe it would be worth giving him a shot.

Ugh. Phlops ...

Where have you gone Chien-Ming Wang-gio?

Lyle couldn't have done that two innings ago?

Lyle Overbay.

Still can't quite believe it.

Uh, that at-bat would have been nice LAST TIME, Overbay!

Good work, Phelpsy.

Are we playing matchups against Marwin Gonzalez?

Did Sterling drop a 'Ben Francisco Treat' after his tater?

[54] Yes. And "He opens his Golden Gates" which sounds lewd.

[55] That does sound filthy. 'Hey Suzyn, remember that time you opened your Golden Gates for me on that west coast trip..'

If all Nune5 had to do was run, he'd be an all-star ...

Um...
Nice job, Nuñy?

(But Overbay did actually abet that run by stopping in the basepath.)

Excellent. Nuñez doesn't look smooth doing that middleman move, but he can get it done.

Whoa、are the Knicks really going to let Boston back into the series? Lame-O.

[58] RIYank, got your SABR hat on tonight? I'm a bit confused on one point..read many pieces abotu how lineup construction 'doesn't really matter' and yet now reading that 'you shoudl always bat your best hitter second'...how much of this is just noise?

[60] It doesn't matter much.
I think best-hitter-second is right. The really surprising result, and one that is not well-understood, is that the #3 spot is not a good place for your best hitter. 1, 2, 4, or 5 are all better. (This is known just by running random simulations a million times, so we know that it's true without knowing why.)

But again, the difference between the optimized line-up and whatever pops into Joe's head will be maybe 10 runs over the course of the year, so not worth worrying over. (And the simulations don't account for any possible psychological effects on the hitters.)

Speaking of SABERmetrics, did you hear Cone explain that the Yankee pitching is seeing a .324 BABIP-against? How many teams have ex-players who know what that means? And Cone went on to give the right analysis: that number is bound to come down, it has to regress to the mean, which is good news.

Damn, Coney.
Now he's expanding on the BABIP and how it's affected by the line-drive rate!

[62] Cone is the man! After O'neil last week a real breath of fresh air for sure.
[61] Interesting..10 runs is really nothing over a season so..why the fuss over lineups now, I wonder? I'm actually really interested in how to properly evaluate managers. EVERY SABR guy out there says Dusty Baker is a terrible game manager (and he does seem to be) yet the players love and respect him..just seems impossible to measure how much 'being respected' counts towards being an effective manager..

ALABAMA HAMMA TIME!!!

Hammered.

[63] Totally agree. Nobody should pretend they know how to evaluate a manager's clubhouse effect.

I like an old Bill James idea. Over the manager's whole career, look at the difference between the number of wins the team should have, given the sum of the individual player performances, and the number of wins the team does have. In one season this is pretty much just random noise. But over fifteen years, you might attribute extra wins to the manager. Kind of a "whole greater than sum of parts" measure.

But, this does not in any way measure the clubhouse effect, because that would presumably make the individual players perform better.

(By the way, the James measure rates Joe Torre very highly.)

[66] I really think Torre gets a free pass cause of the rings..but seems a lot of players don't like him.
Time does seem the best way to judge..someone like Dave Johnson just keeps winning. I do find the constant Joe Maddon love ot be annoying for some reason.. :)

Hah!
Your puny pitch-out cannot stop The Gritster!

Way to be aggressive for once, gritner ...

You have learned well, small Gritner.

Kay and Cone call for the safety squeeze.
No way it happens. No way...

Lots and lots of LOB today.

Yeah, that works.

Whew!
Thanks, Rob!

Hooray!

Thanks be to Mo.

Oh, whaddya know, it's ROBBIE CANO!!!

With a little bit of luck. Wow, they were lucky there. That dude hit the ball on the line, I'm thinking first and third nobody out.

We WILL take it, indeed.

Its kinda sad that the Astros are so awful that a series win is a relief

[67] Probably b/c Maddon is a fucking douche.
Winning is good. Thanks, Mo.

79) They are awful but they played hard. They weren't lifeless. I give them credit for that.