MLB 2012

[Sjofn]

Haha, that's awesome. 

[Slayerik]

Well, minus Valverde you can't fuck with the Tiger's pitching right now. JV on the hill tomorrow at home with a 2-0 lead...I'm liking our chances.

Suck it, Yankees.

[ghost]

It doesn't matter who wins the AL.  The Cardinals are fated to win, yet again.

[Slayerik]

Suck it, Cardinals.

[Surlyboi]

I am in no way a baseball or a Jankees fan, but if those fuckers don't get Ichiro a ring, it's on.

[Sjofn]

C'mon, it's an honor just to be in the postseason, surely? 

[Ingmar]

Even freaking Tim Keown gets it: http://espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2012/story/_/id/8511975/closers-overrated-2012-postseason-proves

[Sjofn]

I kinda wondered if people would start to chirp about closers being overrated it the Giants did well after losing Wilson (who I kinda think was sort of overrated in general? Like people cared about him more because he is a crazy man than anything else.). :P

[Paelos]

If it's Tigers v. Yankees, that's a nightmare for the Yankees. They are so home run driven, and Detroit doesn't give up bombs.

So far, the reason this series is 3-0 is because the Yankees have only scored 5 runs. All homers.

The Yankees are probably the worst example of slugging > all when it comes to the league. Texas would be second. They may have been .453 slugging as a team when it was the regular season, but they only had a .265 team batting average. Now they are getting owned by the team that had the best RISP average in the league this year, and a second best starter ERA in the AL.

[Slayerik]

Yeah, good call. There is a reason why every team's offense is slumping when they face Detroit this postseason....it's their pitching and surprisingly solid D.

Players stepping up and making big hits/plays. Garcia is a 21 year old kid called up in August. Quinton Berry is 23/23 on steals, called up in the middle of the year, and immediately made a big impact. Delmon Postseason Young just waits until October to play.

You know, Coke in the regular season may have been one of the top 3 hated Tigers. But Leyland is getting some great innings out of him.  If the team continues to fire like they have, they will win the World Series.

[HaemishM]

If it's Tigers v. Yankees, that's a nightmare for the Yankees. They are so home run driven, and Detroit doesn't give up bombs.

So far, the reason this series is 3-0 is because the Yankees have only scored 5 runs. All homers.

I haven't been watching the games, but looking at the box scores. When your highest paid player gets benched in a really important ALCS game 3, and doesn't even come on in a pinch-hitters role, it's pretty clear your priorities in building a roster are fucked.

[Ingmar]

If it's Tigers v. Yankees, that's a nightmare for the Yankees. They are so home run driven, and Detroit doesn't give up bombs.

So far, the reason this series is 3-0 is because the Yankees have only scored 5 runs. All homers.

I haven't been watching the games, but looking at the box scores. When your highest paid player gets benched in a really important ALCS game 3, and doesn't even come on in a pinch-hitters role, it's pretty clear your priorities in building a roster are fucked.

Their priorities are fine in terms of the type of talent they target, the issue is just that they sign players for way too long in order to get them to go there. They made the choice to lock up a bunch of good players for a long time and it paid off, they're just getting to the end of the cycle with that particular batch of players. It isn't anything to do with 'oh no they emphasized slugging over batting average!' They led the league in slugging, they're 5th in batting average, they're first in on base percentage - in other words they are just a good hitting team period, not home-runs-or-nothing. They have plenty of players on the roster who historically hit for a high average. They're just old.

Here are the actual issues I see other than old men getting injured and such:

- Detroit's (starting) pitching is very good. Don't blame the Yankees for that.
- Yankees are all slumping at the same time. This happens every once in a while to teams. Slumps happen - there isn't necessarily any deep meaning to be found there.
- The Yankees pitchers are not NEARLY the caliber of Detroit's, once you cut down to a playoff rotation, that's where they've kind of failed to put it together roster-wise. After CC they're really unexciting, and while they've been pretty good this series, you have to figure they've got a couple bad starts in them left, which is the thing that makes me pretty certain they're not going to pull it out.
- Short series playoff randomness.

[ghost]

They made the choice to lock up a bunch of good players for a long time and it paid off

I think this is debatable.  They won the 2009 WS, but hadn't won otherwise since 2000.  With the dollar amount they spent on that roster it really has been a debacle.

[Paelos]

I fully expected Ingmar to show up at some point and talk about historical bullshit and sample size. It's the mating call of the Sabermetrics.

[Ingmar]

They made the choice to lock up a bunch of good players for a long time and it paid off

I think this is debatable.  They won the 2009 WS, but hadn't won otherwise since 2000.  With the dollar amount they spent on that roster it really has been a debacle.

No way, they've been making money hand over fist, and while they only won that one World Series, they've won the East nearly every year. That's the kind of "debacle" that dozens of other teams in sports would love to have.

Paelos, I'm starting to think you don't actually know what the word sabermetrics means, since I haven't busted any out in PAGES. 

[ghost]

The analysis of baseball is much more enjoyable when undertaken as a purely emotional endeavor.  


Also, the Yankees' stated goal is to win the World Series every year.  Everything else is considered a failure.  So is the goal to make money and win their division?  Probably not. 

[Paelos]

Paelos, I'm starting to think you don't actually know what the word sabermetrics means, since I haven't busted any out in PAGES. 

I know enough to know that it values walks and runs, and rejects RBIs. My major problem with it is that while it claims to provide objective evidence about the past, I think it provides an automatic defense mechanism in predictive measures that sample sizes aren't big enough.

[Ingmar]

It only values runs at a team level, really. "Runs Created" is perhaps not what you think (and is a really old bit of sabermetrics that isn't really in vogue anymore).

[WayAbvPar]

How can an accountant be so against using numbers and math?

[Paelos]

How can an accountant be so against using numbers and math?

Oh I'm not. I argue against what they discard, more than the usage of stats. I also think that it's limited from a predictive standpoint, which is all I care about as a fan and a gambler.

[Ingmar]

Baseball is probably the single dumbest sport you could bet on anyway, honestly.

[Paelos]

Baseball is probably the single dumbest sport you could bet on anyway, honestly.

Yeah, but you can win at baseball because it's all based on money line calculations and managing risk. Betting on the NFL is, imo, the dumbest thing anybody can do. It's also the most popular and makes the most money for casinos. Go figure.

[Ingmar]

Matt Cain really needs to never, ever throw a fastball to Carpenter again.

[Paelos]

Will this weather let up? It looks nasty.

[Paelos]

Hey, go Tigers. 

[HaemishM]

Glad to see the overpaid brokedown Yankees fading into the wilderness with an ALCS sweep. 

[Trippy]

Benching Alex Rodriguez was the best part.

[HaemishM]

Benching Alex Rodriguez was the best part.

Yeah, there's nothing like $30 million riding pine to make the QQing sweeter.

[Ingmar]

Barry Zito in an elimination game! Again!

[Trippy]

Should've pitched somebody else last game and let Timmy relieve again for Zito

[Ingmar]

Unfortunately since Bumgarner isn't going to pitch again this season (most likely) I think they were down to no choices. Mota?

[Trippy]

Oh, well sucks to be a Giants fan then.

[Teleku]

Same as it ever was.   

In any event, I'm confident they'll take this to game 7, then lose there.  The Giants wont make it that easy on the fans!

[Sjofn]

wtfzito

The pitching situation for the Giants is so weird right now. 

[Paelos]

Zito.

Go figure.