Tags
Baseball MLB, Closers, Goose Egg, Goose Gossage, Houston, Nate Silver, Nats, Os, Relief Pitching, Rockies, Sox
Well the best months of the year are here, and baseball season is underway. The Nats have the best record in the National League, despite having a disastrous bullpen that seems bent on blowing every lead the team has in the late innings. The Os, somehow, are leading in the AL East, perhaps another example of the importance of hitting, tho I can’t imagine hitting will carry the day for either of these two teams.
And my Sox aren’t doing too badly, despite lots of injuries and no David Price. Houston maybe the surprise this year, tho I doubt they’ll continue at a .700 pace. Colorado too is a surprise, so far winning twice as many games as they’ve lost.
Anyway, it’s a long season, and we’re only about 20 games into the 162 game season.
Meanwhile, two of you (BT, JM) have sent me a link to an article that I want to draw to the attention of those baseball fans who love looking beyond just who’s winning and who’s losing. Actually, this article may be too technical for many. And I admit that I have struggled with understanding it all. Even the title is dense.
But take a look. It offers a different way of looking at relief pitchers, particularly closers.
See: The Save Ruined Relief Pitching. The Goose Egg Can Fix It, by Nate Silver.
Land Wayland said:
OH GREAT ANOTHER INSIGHT INTO WAYS TO IMPROVE PITCHING THEREBY REDUCING HITTING, AND RUNNING, AND SLIDING, AND RUNDOWNS, AND PICKOFF THROWS AND STEALS, AND HIDDEN BALL TRICKS AND ALL AND I DO MEAN 99% OF THE STUFF THAT I GO TO A BALL PARK TO SEE.
SOON SILVER AND HIS ILK WILL BE ANALYZING WHICH KINDS OF PITCHES IN WHICH LOCATIONS AT WHICH SPEEDS WORK BEST AT EVERY PITCH THROWN AT EVERY COUNT TO EVERY BATTER WITH MORE THAN 50 PLATE APPEARANCES. HOW MUCH MORE FUN IT IS GOING TO BE TO WATCH ROBOTS PLAYING THE GAME
(AND YES I DO KNOW A LOT ABOUT STATISTICS AND DO UNDERSTAND WHAT SILVER IS TALKING ABOUT, BUT I LOATH THIS PRATTLE ABOUT HOW BASEBALL SHOULD BE PLAYED).
Richard said:
Land,
Love your Comments, tho I wish you would be more direct.
Anyway, once you age a bit and understand the importance and beauty of pitching (as opposed to those guys who try to hit every ball out of the park and strike out 100 times a season) you’ll really begin to understand what’s truly beautiful about baseball.
:)
R
Ed Scholl said:
Great idea, though I don’t think we need to incorporate the goose egg as another official statistic. But it could be a valuable parameter to measure, similar to the hold, another unofficial statistic. If I were a manager I would embrace this concept.