Monday things...
Lone Star Ball —
... Thought this was funny Joe Sheehan over at BP, discussing the Angel-Sox series ( http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6806 ): "and before you point to the absence of Gary Matthews Jr., note that Matthews wasn't any better than those guys this season: .252/.323/.419, which is what happens when your batting average floats back down to its career levels. Matthews' 2005 and 2007 seasons are completely indistinguishable from one another; he got to be a free agent after 2006. Ah, serendipity. Four years and $40 million left on that deal, folks. It's OK, though; he's just 33." by ...
Game Four Primer: Yankees' Bullpen
Vegas Watch —
... : Pitched 1.2 innings in G2 (25 pitches), two innings last night (38 pitches with a five run lead; smart move, Joe). Sheehan suggests that Torre extended Chamberlain last night because he wasn't going to be available tonight anyway. I can't find the transcript of Torre's postgame press conference last night; that may be true. If that's the case, it was REALLY dumb to pitch him at all last night. They did it because of one of the "Joba Rules"; if he starts warming up, he has to come into the game. They obviously want to protect him, and for good reason. But isn't that going a little too far, especially considering the importance of these games? ...
Joe Sheehan On The Reasons The Angels Lost
6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog —
At Baseball Prospectus (emphasis all mine):
Brian Runge had a huge strike zone yesterday, and both Jered Weaver and Curt Schilling took advantage of it. Schilling has good control to begin with, and if you give him an extra couple of inches down and to the outside, he becomes essentially unhittable. The bigger zone helped Weaver’s big breaking stuff, enabling him to catch corners that might not have been there on a different day. Runge, as much as anyone else, was responsible for yesterday’s game being 2-0 into the eighth. I’m left feeling like the home plate umpires are exerting too large an influence on the game. A large strike zone is better than a random one, to be sure, but not as good as a rulebook strike zone. Calling strikes on pitches down and off the plate does little more than move games along; if umpires were to call the high strike—which has made an inconsistent appearance ...
