Tag Archives: baseball

Sox Atop AL East. Magic Number Down to 162.

02 Tuesday Apr 2013

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Yes.

162 is correct and not a misprint.

According to a young friend who studies these things (who ever knew there were such people?), apparently even though the Sox play 162 regular season games, they start the year with a magic number of 163.

Something about a need to put a cookie jar out of reach.

Once I return from this week’s trip to New Orleans, I’ll explain all of that in a future post for the few of you out there who may be interested in the metrics of such ‘foolishness’.

And the White Sox, Detroit, Houston, LAA, Seattle, Atlanta, Mets, Nats, Dodgers, Arizona, Cubs, Brewers also have magic numbers of 162, if I fully understand what this sabermatrician is trying to teach me.

Also, thanx to all of you who succumbed to my constant nagging (redundancy?) to participate in the 2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests.

I haven’t had time to put all the answers on a spread sheet yet; that will have to wait a week or so. But suffice it to say that not many of you picked either the Sox or the Yunkees to go all the way. In fact, many of you seem to believe neither will make it to the playoffs, but they will fight each other — for last place in the AL East.

Harrumph.

Better predictions for the Nats, however.

Cheers.

 

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Why Is Baseball So Much Better Than Football?

08 Friday Feb 2013

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This question is a no brainer, of course.

But a friend recently gifted me an original of a January 18, 1987 Washington Post article by my sports’ writing diety, Thomas Boswell, on this very subject. I don’t remember having seen this particular article and thought I’d pass it along.

“Let Me Count the Ways,” Boswell wrote more than a quarter of a century ago, and then continued:

Some people say football’s the best game in America. Others say baseball.

Some people are really dumb.

Some people say all this is just a matter of taste. Others know better.

Some people can’t wait for next Sunday’s Super Bowl. Others wonder why.

Pro football is a great game. Compared to hockey. After all, you’ve gotta do something when the wind chill is zero and your curveball won’t break. But let’s not be silly. Compare the games? It’s a one-sided laugher. Here are the first 99 reasons why baseball is better than football. (More after lunch).

Now the list of his first 99 reasons.

My favorites are: 11 (especially if you add that Weaver was once thrown out of a game before the game even started), 21, 25, 54, 60, 64, 69, 70, 72, 91. And those don’t include the ones Boswell must have listed after lunch.

Which ones are your favorites? (List them in the Comment section below.)

Or even better, list your own reasons why Boswell is correct.

And while I’ve never claimed MillersTime is either fair or balanced (as far as my views on baseball are concerned), you can see this lame list of 25 Reasons Football Is Better. (Some of these seem to make Boswell’s case even stronger.)

Finally, Frank Deford, someone I had also held in high esteem in the world of sports’ writing, at least until I came across this article, sees it differently.

What say you?

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2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

05 Tuesday Feb 2013

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(Workers on Tuesday are loading a truck with the Red Sox’ gear for spring training. Marie Torto photo)

2013 MillersTime Baseball Contests

A few changes for this year’s contests in response to some readers’ suggestions.

Primarily, I have de-emphasized the Sox and Yankees (only one contest involves these two teams), and I have tried to allow for your specific interest in a favorite team, a favorite player, and/or your baseball knowledge (or lack of it also) in general.

Contest #1:

Make a prediction about the 2013 MLB baseball season.

Continue reading »

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“The Last Days of September”

28 Sunday Oct 2012

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(The author of the poem below is Troy Lovett, a retired high school math teacher living in Louisville. The poem came to me through a long time Kentucky friend who regularly sends baseball and other good, current writing, and I think received a copy of the poem in a recent email.)

 

The Last Days of September

The last days
of September carry with them a sense
of change; a longing for what is
fleeting; a remembrance of what is no more;
and an awareness of approaching winter.
Days are filled with a little of all that–warm afternoons, chilly nights, bluer skies,
less daylight, and warm cider.

There is urgency in the precious last days
of autumn. Squirrels and birds scurry to beat the night’s cold and we
unpack winter sweaters and knitted scarves and brace for change.

The greatest game
follows its inevitable path toward conclusion with
athletes playing through the wear and tear of a long season, trying to
find the resources to make one final push
for glory. For some it is the morning of a promising career; for others
the evening of a journey through paradise passing far too soon.

For the players, and for us,
we sense, as at no other time,
that the game goes on and we are fleeting;
that what is real is much more than what is seen;
that life is a prelude to a greater glory;
that we have been blessed in incalculable ways
to have played another season; and that life
and the game are gifts from a Father’s love.

There are lessons to be learned from
late September days.

Sleep warm, my dear friend.

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Vote for the 2012 Best Prediction in the MillersTime Baseball Contest

18 Thursday Oct 2012

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Eleven predictions came true (either exactly or close enough to be declared finalists) for Contest #1: Make a Prediction about the 2012 Baseball Season.

Now it’s up to you folks to decide which one should be declared the winner:

A few ‘rules’:

*Deadline to send in your selection is Oct. 31 at midnight.

*You can send your choice to me by email (Samesty84@gmail.com) or simply put it in the Comment section below.

*Consider adding an explanatory sentence or two when you vote, especially if you want others to be influenced by your wisdom, insight, or because you want them to vote with you. (If you send your vote by email, let me know if I can post it in the Comment section).

*You have to be on the MillersTime email list or you must have made a submission to at least one of the MillersTime Baseball Contests over the past three years.

Here are this years finalists. Vote for the one you think is the Best Prediction, however you want to define “Best.” Remember, all of these predictions were made before Opening Day 2012.

  1. Cards Make Playoff
  2. Red Sox rebuilding, Not close to playoffs
  3. Phillies greatest decline in W-L (actually they tied with Red Sox, 21 fewer wins)
  4. Strasburg voted to All-Star game
  5. Astros worst team in the Majors
  6. Cards better offense without Pujois (true in Hits, Runs, RBIs, but three less HRs, .002 in BA)
  7. Nats make playoffs
  8. Rafael Soriano performs for the Yanks
  9. Angels not win their Division
  10. O’s not last in AL East
  11. Papelbon stellar Year. Sox will miss him.

PS – I’ll be interested if the Yankees can make up for their worst choke ever (2004 AL Playoffs when they blew a 3-0 game lead to the mighty Sox and lost 4-3, before the Sox went on to win the WS). Whaddayathink? Just wondering…

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Winners and Losers in the MillersTime 2012 Baseball Contests

08 Monday Oct 2012

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Overall, I’d say it was a mixed season for this group of prognosticators:

In Contest # 1 – About one-third of the specific predictions folks made actually came true.

In Contest #2 – Most predicted the Nats would do better, but the closest anyone got to their 97-65 record was 93-69.

In Contest #3 – No one got close to getting all six of the Division leaders at the All Star break. The best anyone could do was only three out of the six.

In Contest #4 – Most thought the Yanks (94-68) would do better than the Sox (69-93), which they did, but no one foresaw the huge slide for the Sox (nor the Phillies, 81-81, for that matter).

In Contest #5 – A majority of you thought the Yanks would beat the Sox in the 12 games they played after the All-Star break, but only two of you called it exactly (8-4).

In Contest # 6 – Most predicted the Angels and Phillies would be in the WS.  Not happening. Not even close.

Now for the specifics and the winners for the contests that are final.

Continue reading »

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Thomas Boswell: “The Season Is a Shark”

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

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In baseball time, the next day quickly swallows the previous night, leaving a few memories, but little residue. The season is a shark, constantly moving forward, devouring the next game.

What a pleasure to open the morning newspaper and be able to read Thomas Boswell.

In his latest, his column this morning, In Nats’ World, No Lucky Charms Needed, he writes about the world the baseball players live in, which, he writes, “is a different realm -the real one. They aren’t a collection of fantasy players or a stack of baseball cards…”

I always learn something from his columns, which I did again today.

 

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We Have a MillersTime Baseball Contest Winner

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

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Now this is embarrassing.

First, there was only one of the six contests that was to be decided by the All-Star break – #3 – Name the teams who will be leading in each division.

Maybe this is the hardest of the six contests because it’s only half of a season, and therefore not totally indicative of how good or bad teams really are.

Several surprises so far:

*The White Sox are leading their division. Only one person predicted that (Rob W.)

*The Nationals are leading their division. Only one of you predicted that (Todd E.).

*The Phillies and the Red Sox are in the bottom of their divisions. That apparently was not expected by many of you.

* No one got all six of the divisions correctly.

* No one got five of the divisions correctly.

* No one got four of the divisions correctly.

If you look at the spread sheet of the Final Predictions, it looks as if 10 of you (Jeff F., Rob W., Kevin C., Elizabeth M., Tiffany L., Jimmy R., Brent S., David P., Jeff K., and Meg G) had three of the six division leaders. But when I investigated further, most of these 10 only, in fact, had two, as the “D” I had put on the spread sheet stood for Diamondbacks and not the Dodgers for many of you.

So what’s the embarrassing part?

Continue reading »

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Remaining Nats’ Games: List of Dates Still Available for Free

08 Tuesday May 2012

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Here is a list of the remaining games that are available for you to choose from to join me to watch the Nats in 2012.

One seat for each game is free to you, except you may have to buy me a hot dog and/or a beer and put up with my companionship for the duration of the game.

If you might want two tickets to any of the games listed below, I may be open to selling those to you. Note that the Friday, Sept. 7 Marlins game is definitely for sale.

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Angels Will Beat Phillies in the WS

12 Thursday Apr 2012

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As I prepare to head to the Nationals’ home opener today, I ‘note’ that my beloved Sox are in last place in the AL East with a 1-5 record, an improvement over last years opening of 0-6.

I also note that the Nationals are tied for first in their Senior Circuit Division with a record of 4-2. While the Nats, or any other team, could never replace my Sox infatuation/obsession, it’s nice to consider that my ‘home’ team may be competitive this year.

Anyway, neither the Sox nor the Nats seemed to impress the contestants in this years MillersTime Baseball Contests.

Here, then, the wisdom of those who succumbed to my endless nagging to participate in the six contests:

Continue reading »

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Orioles on Top? Nats Next to Last?

05 Thursday Apr 2012

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Finally those data geeks at The Sunlight Foundation (transparency: that’s where my wife works) have done something I can understand.

They’ve taken a look at how much each baseball team is spending in the political arena. And there are some surprises.

The Yanks are not even in the top five. The Nats, who play in the nation’s capital, are next to last in giving.

And who gives the most?

The Orioles.

What’s that about?

To learn more about how the MLB teams are spending their money and to see a list of where your team stands in political money giving (which no doubt comes out of the money you pay for tickets), see Major League Fundraising.

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