Newsletter for games through 6-25-17

RANDOMNESS: Never complain about getting up at 3am to Leo Leckie…he does so on a routine basis…don’t know if you saw this, but on June 14 the Mets used one pitcher as a pinch-hitter (Matz) and another as a pinch-runner (Gsellman)…Matz had a hit and Gsellman scored…kinda made me want to code those into the game…but maybe my Mets are the only team bad enough to  benefit from having pitchers fill in to position-player roles…thanks to Adam Symonds for compiling the run-differential-vs-reality comparisons…one thing they demonstrate is that the actual Mets should be scoring more runs than they are…

COMMENTARY: Raphael Malveaux is having is traditional genuis-like season (10 of his 12 seasons have seen him finish in positive-WOR territory, including a +30 in 2015), but he has a very mediocre actual Reds club in first place WOR and a game and a half behind Milwaukee in the NL central…in fact, the Cubs, Pirates, and Cards all had winning weeks, led by the 6-1 Chicago effort…Dodgers had the best in the west at 5-2, and you kinda feel like they’ve got a bigger run in them….they continue to be hampered by the lack of an ASFBL television deal…Toronto and Detroit would have been the class of the AL this week with matching 6-1 records, but for the 7-0 monster week by Houston…Anaheim was quietly 4-2, and currently holds the top wildcard spot in the AL…and would be in first place in either of the other 2 AL divisions… Baltimore picked up a game and a half on the Yankees and now sits 1 game back…Boston is in striking distance at 4.5 back…NL East still has every team in positive-WOR territory, with the Phillies leading the way…Nostalgia moment: As we all watch Clay Bellinger do incredible things as a rookie (leading the NL in homers at the moment), a curious bit of ASFBL crossover is that we once had a “Clay Bellinger Rule” (named after his Dad)…OUR version of the rule was that a AAA position player who appeared as a pitcher couldn’t be used as an ASFBL pitcher, but alternative versions of a “Clay Bellinger Rule” have been discussed at the Baseball Think Factory…Aaron Judge is so far head in the ASFBL home run race I’m thinking of steriod testing the data file that his stats reside in…Miguel Sano leads the ASFBL with 11 triples, 2 head of the MLB leader Charlie Blackmon…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Brad Peacock of HOU had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 6/19/2017
Jake Arrieta of CHC had 13 strikeouts against SDP on 6/19/2017
Ryan Schimpf of SDP struck out 4 times against CHC on 6/19/2017
Justin Smoak of TOR had 5 hits against TEX on 6/19/2017
Jose Peraza of CIN robbed 3 hits against TBR on 6/20/2017
J.A. Happ of TOR had 11 strikeouts against TEX on 6/20/2017
David Freese of PIT struck out 4 times against MIL on 6/20/2017
Corey Kluber of COL had 13 strikeouts against ARI on 6/20/2017
Matt Davidson of CWS struck out 4 times against MIN on 6/21/2017
Carlos Carrasco of HOU had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 6/21/2017
Yu Darvish of TEX had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 6/21/2017
Carlos Martinez of STL had 13 strikeouts against PHI on 6/21/2017
Tommy Joseph of PHI struck out 4 times against STL on 6/21/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD had 7 RBI against NYM on 6/22/2017
Chris Taylor of LAD struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/22/2017
Ben Gamel of NYM had 5 hits against SFG on 6/23/2017
Alex Wood of LAD had 14 strikeouts against COL on 6/23/2017
Carlos Correa of HOU hit 3 home runs against SEA on 6/23/2017
Johnny Cueto of SFG had 10 strikeouts against NYM on 6/24/2017
Brad Peacock of HOU had 14 strikeouts against SEA on 6/24/2017
Parker Bridwell of DET had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 6/24/2017
Wilson Ramos of TBR struck out 4 times against BAL on 6/24/2017
Chris Iannetta of ARI robbed 3 hits against PHI on 6/25/2017
NYM and SFG played 14.5 innings on 6/25/2017
Corey Kluber of COL had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 6/25/2017

 

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Newsletter for games through 6-18

THE NEWSLETTER IS ON THE DISABLED LIST this week…this missive is being sent from the Houston airport, which is a slight deviation from the original travel plans, and there won’t be enough time to compose something longer.  But, congrats to Miami and Milwaukee, who were both undefeated, Seattle and the Yankees, who each won 6, and Philly, who is vaulting into first place. WOR  This is more like the 7-day concussion DL, retroactive to Monday, so I fully expect the newsletter to be back on line next week.

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Kris Bryant of CHC struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/12/2017
Trey Mancini of BAL had 6 RBI against CWS on 6/12/2017
Melky Cabrera of CWS had 5 hits against BAL on 6/12/2017
Chase Headley of NYY robbed 3 hits against LAA on 6/12/2017
Max Scherzer of WAS had 13 strikeouts against ATL on 6/12/2017
Jabari Blash of SDP struck out 4 times against CIN on 6/13/2017
Alex Wood of LAD had 10 strikeouts against CLE on 6/13/2017
Michael Pineda of NYY had 10 strikeouts against LAA on 6/13/2017
Madison Younginer of BAL had 10 strikeouts against CWS on 6/13/2017
Matt Davidson of CWS struck out 4 times against BAL on 6/13/2017
Brandon Drury of ARI had 7 RBI against DET on 6/14/2017
Carlos Martinez of STL had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 6/14/2017
Drew Butera of ATL had 7 RBI against WAS on 6/14/2017
Nicholas Castellanos of WAS struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/14/2017
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 10 strikeouts against NYM on 6/15/2017
Luis Severino of NYY had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 6/15/2017
Jaime Garcia of MIL had 11 strikeouts against SDP on 6/16/2017
Jabari Blash of SDP struck out 4 times against MIL on 6/16/2017
Chris Sale of BOS had 10 strikeouts against HOU on 6/16/2017
Carlos Carrasco of HOU had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 6/16/2017
Robbie Ray of ARI had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 6/16/2017
Rougned Odor of TEX struck out 4 times against SEA on 6/16/2017
Kendrys Morales of TOR struck out 4 times against CWS on 6/16/2017
Russell Martin of TOR had 5 hits against CWS on 6/16/2017
CWS and TOR played 17.5 innings on 6/16/2017
Keon Broxton of MIL struck out 4 times against SDP on 6/17/2017
Max Scherzer of WAS had 11 strikeouts against NYM on 6/17/2017
Jake Marisnick of HOU had 6 RBI against BOS on 6/17/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD hit 3 home runs against CIN on 6/18/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD had 7 RBI against CIN on 6/18/2017
Tim Beckham of TBR had 6 RBI against DET on 6/18/2017
Aaron Hicks of NYY hit 3 home runs against OAK on 6/18/2017

Newsletter for games through 6-11-2017

ERRATA: Mark Chen points out that I said his Orioles went 5-1 last week, but it turns out they were 3-4….the error will drop my adjusted fielding percentage…

COMMENTARY:  The Nationals and DBacks are tied for the league lead with a .677 winning percentage…nobody else is above .600…along with the Yankees, both teams ran the table this week…Philly added to their league-leading WOR…Oakland and Seattle each made moves on Houston in the AL West, but they’re still 3.5 up…this is astounding, but Yankee pitchers allowed 5 runs in 6 games last week….including 27 consecutive shutout innings to end the week, all complete-game shutouts…wow….they out-scored opponents 42-5….even after the Yankees’ huge run, the Bosox and Orioles are within 2 games of them…Indians made huge moves this week, moving Chisenhall, Carassco, and Kluber…they held to first and produced a winning week, but the Chisox and Tigers each gained half a game…Dodger-Oriole 3-for-1 was also an aggressive move….the newly-acquired Bundy gave the Dodgers 8 innings in his first start with the new team, but lost 2-1 to Max Scherzer…Cards and Pirates each had winning weeks….the last-place team in the AL central is closer to first place than the second-place team in the NL West…in the “reality isn’t being realistic” category, you might have missed Roberto Perez smacking a homer against the Dodgers yesterday….Perez was hitting .147 with no homers on the year, and the pitcher was Clayton Kershaw….finally, at the exact moment I was cheering the glorious, honest, brave and pure Cal. State Fullerton Titans into the College World Series against the hated and vile Long Beach dirtbags, I had on the Angel game to watch Chris Devenski face Danny Espinoza….Devenski played for Fullerton and Espinoza for Long Beach…Fullerton won both contests….finally, as a true sign of greatness, and for those of you who don’t know him, Chuck Ballingall is the debate coach at Damien High School…the wikipedia page for the school just listed the policy debate team ahead of alumni Mark McGwire…I could be wrong, but I think Chuck was teaching at Damien when McGwire attended there…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Renato Nunez of OAK struck out 4 times against TOR on 6/5/2017
Jeff Samardzija of SFG had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 6/5/2017
Sean Newcomb of ATL had 13 strikeouts against PHI on 6/6/2017
Leury Garcia of CWS struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/7/2017
MIN and SEA played 16.5 innings on 6/7/2017
Caleb Smith of NYY had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 6/7/2017
Andrew Knapp of PHI struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/8/2017
Chris Carter of NYY struck out 4 times against BOS on 6/8/2017
Zack Godley of ARI had 10 strikeouts against SDP on 6/8/2017
Carlos Martinez of STL had 12 strikeouts against CIN on 6/8/2017
Eugenio Suarez of CIN struck out 4 times against STL on 6/8/2017
J.A. Happ of TOR had 11 strikeouts against SEA on 6/9/2017
Mitch Haniger of SEA robbed 3 hits against TOR on 6/9/2017
Michael Conforto of SEA struck out 4 times against TOR on 6/9/2017
Kole Calhoun of LAA struck out 4 times against HOU on 6/9/2017
German Marquez of SEA had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 6/10/2017
Robbie Ray of ARI had 13 strikeouts against MIL on 6/10/2017
Khris Davis of OAK had 5 hits against TBR on 6/10/2017
Buck Farmer of COL had 11 strikeouts against CHC on 6/11/2017
Alcides Escobar of KCR struck out 4 times against SDP on 6/11/2017
Sean Newcomb of ATL had 15 strikeouts against NYM on 6/11/2017
Lucas Duda of NYM struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/11/2017
Zack Greinke of ARI had 10 strikeouts against MIL on 6/11/2017
Marwin Gonzalez of HOU struck out 4 times against LAA on 6/11/2017
Matt Wieters of WAS struck out 4 times against TEX on 6/11/2017
TOR and SEA played 14.5 innings on 6/11/2017

Newsletter for games through 6/4/2017

COMMENTARY: Every then and again I’ll tell myself that I need to do something to make sure that the results are more realistic…and then Scotter Gennett will hit 4 homers in one game…it’s one of the many times I’ve concluded that reality is not realistic…there is randomness within probability….I have come to take it for granted, but thanks to the 24 of you that submitted lineups this week…Scooter was a fantasy Met last year, by the way…in the neck-and-neck AL central the Indians inched forward and Royals moved into second…Anaheim went bananas (note Rally Monkey reference) and posted a 6-1 week….Tigers and Seattle each had winning weeks, and a couple more of those will push them into contention…Tony Bernacchi declared he was going to mix things up rather than wait for adjustments, ended up standing pat, and ran the table with the only perfect 7-0….which I’m sure ties a record for the best week ever…and I’m not giving him crap, trades can be hard to work out…Baltimore still managed to hang on to first by half a game…entire NL East is still in positive WOR territory…Arizona has the biggest ASFBL divisional lead….it’s all of 5 games…the entire AL central is within 4.5 games of first…Ricks’ DBacks also have the most wins in the league and the best win percentage…Philly won 4 games as remains in the top spot for the WOR….Mark Chen’s Baltimore team went 5-1, has the only positive WOR in the AL east, and is leading the division…Josh Harrison of the Pirates has a 17-game hit streak going…that ties with 4 other guys for the longest of the season, and he’ll break the tie if he gets a hit next Monday…Dellin Betances of the Yankees has gone 11 appearances without allowing a run to score…top 3 teams in run differentials — which generally is the best measure of overall team performance, in my humble opinion — are Washington, Houston, and Cleveland….my power rankings puts the Orioles 3rd and Cleveland 15th…the Reds lead the league with 58 stolen bases…I’m not saying this is causal, but Arizona has the highest percentage of vowels in names across all players….and they’re in first place in the league…things that make people with names like “Bruschke” a little vowel envious….the Reds have the longest average names, 12.025 letters on average across 80 players…DBacks are 5th…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Carlos Martinez of STL had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 5/29/2017
Adalberto Mejia of MIN had 10 strikeouts against HOU on 5/30/2017
Bryce Harper of WAS struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/30/2017
Jacob deGrom of NYM had 11 strikeouts against MIL on 5/30/2017
Jesus Aguilar of MIL struck out 4 times against NYM on 5/30/2017
Mark Canha of OAK struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/30/2017
Nick Markakis of ATL struck out 4 times against LAA on 5/31/2017
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 11 strikeouts against SFG on 5/31/2017
Shane Peterson of TBR struck out 4 times against TEX on 5/31/2017
Zack Greinke of ARI had 11 strikeouts against PIT on 5/31/2017
Josh Bell of PIT struck out 4 times against ARI on 5/31/2017
Lance McCullers of HOU had 13 strikeouts against MIN on 5/31/2017
Giancarlo Stanton of BAL robbed 3 hits against NYY on 5/31/2017
Edinson Volquez of MIA had 10 strikeouts against ARI on 6/1/2017
Jake Lamb of ARI struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/1/2017
Jose Peraza of CIN robbed 3 hits against ATL on 6/2/2017
Yolmer Sanchez of CWS struck out 4 times against DET on 6/2/2017
Dallas Keuchel of HOU had 14 strikeouts against TEX on 6/2/2017
Max Scherzer of WAS had 18 strikeouts against OAK on 6/2/2017
Joe Biagini of TOR had 11 strikeouts against NYY on 6/2/2017
Kyle Schwarber of NYY struck out 4 times against TOR on 6/2/2017
Gabriel Ynoa of BAL had 10 strikeouts against BOS on 6/2/2017
James Paxton of SEA had 16 strikeouts against TBR on 6/3/2017
SFG and PHI played 13.5 innings on 6/3/2017
Carlos Martinez of STL had 14 strikeouts against CHC on 6/3/2017
STL and CHC played 13.5 innings on 6/3/2017
Max Kepler of MIN struck out 4 times against LAA on 6/4/2017
Deven Marrero of BOS struck out 4 times against BAL on 6/4/2017
Luis Severino of NYY had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 6/4/2017