Momentum, problems, superstition
Hickey tells us the M’s master plan for this spring:
“We wanted to get to the final week of the (spring), win every game that week and go into the season with some momentum,” bench coach John McLaren said. “We’re in position to do that.”
In talking about errors in yesterday’s win, Hargrove said
“We made some mistakes that we wouldn’t make if we did it 100 more times,” Hargrove said.
Say, like hiring Mike Hargrove to manage the team after Melvin got the axe.
Baker on M’s superstitions.
With Amazon and B&N shipping last Friday, some of you should be getting The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball today. May it make you happy. In the meantime, you can always enjoy the blog, where yesterday was the Kent Hrbek/Ron Gant 1991 World Series incident.
Comments
53 Responses to “Momentum, problems, superstition”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
USSM uses and recommends
Shouldn’t that say yesterday’s WIN?
That was fast.
Fixed
I’ve really enjoyed the blog so far…
It should be noted that if you sign up for the free 30 day trial of Amazon prime (you’ll have to cancel before 30 days are up if you want to avoid the membership fees)…you can get the book delivered by tomorrow for only 3.99 shipping or you can get it delivered by Wednesday for free shipping.
I was SO pis–extremely displeased at that Hrbek thing when it happened. I liked Gant and still hadn’t reached my fill of Braves games to the point of detesting everything about them like I do now.
Also of note, I heard this is the final year the Braves will be broadcast nation-wide.
In the introduction of his book The Sinister Firstbaseman, Eric Walker argued that any book that gave him even one new thought or one thoroughly pleasing paragraph of prose was worth the candle.
Well I’ve just finished the introduction to the Cheater’s Guide. The last paragraph alone has made it worth the candle…
Kudos!
Grumble, grumble…..my pre-order of CHEATER is still at pre-order…
If this counts as a general discussion thread for the day, can I ask why BP has different BABIP and GB% data than Fangraphs and THT? It may have been mentioned before, but I can’t find the article or comment.
THT purchases their balls in play data from Baseball Info Solutions, who track every pitch thrown in every game all year long.
BP does not.
Go with THT.
10 – thanks.
How has the talent level changed there Mike? Mike? Mike? Are you there? “Yes I am but I do not want to answer that question.” Darn he is still here.
I ordered mine in Jan. From Barnes and Noble .com and, according to my “order status” it will not ship until April 2, 2007.
bummer
What are we to make of Gammon’s assertion in his blog (ESPN reg req) that
Seattlest notes that while then-notorious-partier Freddy Garcia finished the game on the mound for the AL, he appeared anything but drunk and it seems unlikely that he could pound down enough between innings to get that way, even if Carlos had been there to hold the beer bong for him…
Dang, I guess I should feel lucky. I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon and, in this case, the Amazon Prime membership really helped me. My copy of CGTB shipped from their warehouse on Thursday at 6PM and arrived at my house at 6PM on Friday. I’m halfway through and am really enjoying it!
It would be a better investment to burn $$$ for heat.
- I’m not a big fan of the All Star Game decided home field advantage (but it is far better than the every other year method)…but does it make any sense to use an example of something that happened BEFORE the rule went into effect to support why the rule should not exist in the first place.
Brilliant! A lesser Bench Coach would plan on losing the final games in order to ‘make them hungry’. Or perhaps alternate wins and losses in order to ‘keep them on an even keel’. But a plan to win all of them? Pure genius. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.
I’ve got an idea….how about the league with the best record during the last week of spring training getting home field advantage for the allstar game?
I got a new superstition, How about get a good manager and good players to fill the M’s uniforms and they may actually win something
It’s an odd assertation by Gammons, given that — as Seattlest notes — both teams used every pitcher they had available (which is why the game ended in a tie in the first place). So I’m not really buying it.
#14– now, that makes no sense at all.
from Stone’s wrap-up: “The problem was the two managers had spent their entire roster and had no reserves left. While Freddy Garcia said he could have gone at least another two innings without a problem, the NL pitcher, Vicente Padilla, had experienced trouble loosening up. The NL’s Bob Brenly said he couldn’t, with a clear conscious, have sent out Padilla to work another inning.”
The pitchers who’d pitched the 9th were Mo and Smoltz, who wouldn’t have expected to go back in the 10th any way. There weren’t any pitchers sitting on the bench, unused.
Brilliant! A lesser Bench Coach would plan on losing the final games in order to ‘make them hungry’. Or perhaps alternate wins and losses in order to ‘keep them on an even keel’. But a plan to win all of them? Pure genius. That’s why he gets paid the big bucks.
Not to criticize McLaren, but I’d much prefer a strategy to win all the games in the first week of the regular season in order to build momentum for, well, for the regular season.
About superstitions, a game like baseball with so much common cause variation is going to be packed to the gills with ‘em. Raul not looking at the scoreboard or Felix tap-dancing on the foul lines are harmless enough – charming sort of (well, except for Manny stealing dirty laundry, and are they sure that cheetah thong was a superstition and not a lost bet?). But the real problem is coaches and managers (and GMs) attributing random fluctuations to special cause variation and trying to do something about it. e.g. Washburns ‘05 ERA being interpreted as evidence he is a front-line starter.
the Boston Herald is already plotting to trade Joel.
the biggest move this off-season per Groz is adding John Mclaren– a link to the glory time– and why (he wonders) haven’t they hired a manager from that time, like McLaren or Joey Cora …
Yeah, I agree with Seattlest’s reasoning. Which leads to the question: is Gammons losing it? Or what? But we now have a resident expert on weird baseball stories, somtimes involving controlled substances (really, I hear he’s written quite a lot about and made it available for purchase on some kind of retro 15th century information delivery system, kind of like a website but made out of trees) — so I figured I would bring it up here.
There’s no surprise Boston want to deal Joel; the real surprise is that “they are not going to have difficulty finding a trading partner.” But hey, he’s a proven something something.
- If Groz said one thing that made any sense I would make a call to the Devil and make sure hell has not frozen over. It must be nice to have a job where you are only asked to:
1) have a moderate understanding of sports in general
2) have a slightly more advanced understanding of the three professional sports teams in your town
3) be able to form an articulate opinion 50% of the time
…and yet not be able to do any of this…
doesn’t Joel get temporary no trade rights?
not as a free agent…
Free agency comes with a no trade clause until the following June doesn’t it?
So…. game on TV tonight, 7pm, yes? Will there be a game thread? Have to plan my evening — watching the game over dinner at some pub, or listening to it on the radio and posting comments here?
6:05 PT, FSN
I’d recommend the pub, except that I’m broke.
Top 10 Baseball Blogs with LL and USSM clocking in at 6 and 7.
http://prweb.com/releases/2007/3/prweb513651.htm
If there is any truth to the Gammons story it would have to be Padilla who had been drinking. He has widely been rumored to have a drinking problem, and it’s certainly possible the story about him having trouble getting loose was a face-saving cover story.
so he could pitch two inning scoreless, leave with the score still tied and no one in the bullpen, and then pound down enough to be incapacitated for another half-inning without anyone noticing?
If someone has a Video Cassette Recorder, I’ll give you US$5 and a replacement tape to tape the game.
35:
That’s a horrible press release:
This year, the blogger behind the USS Mariner is releasing his first book, “A Cheaters Guide to Baseball this season.”
What?
And then it goes and does one of those highlighted quote deals in the middle of the thing that reads ” A Cheaters Guide to Baseball this season. ”
What?
39: Yeah not the most brilliant writer behind that release. Just thought it was note worthy that two M’s blogs showed up in the Top 10.
KJR is reporting that Bill the Beerman Scott has died; Jim Moore had a nice column before the 12th man honor earlier this year …
Or he could have pitched two innings while nipping from a bottle between innings until someone finally noticed him stumbling in the clubhouse. If Dock Ellis could pitch a no hitter on acid, Vicente Padilla could pitch two scoreless innings drunk.
More Doyle love —
By LARRY LAGE, AP Sports Writer
March 26, 2007
speaking of Doyle & Acta:
I don’t understand Acta’s reluctance with regards to Doyle? Is Acta related somehow to Hargrove, because from what I’ve seen of his comments I am not all that impressed with him.
Well in that case, we should give the Nats a full refund for the Snelling transaction. If only it was that easy.
So Acta is leaning toward Casto over Snelling because of Casto’s age. Well, that makes sense since Casto is so much younger.
Casto is FIVE DAYS younger than Snelling.
I thought one of our mantra’s was we were trading Snelling to a team that would give him playing time (as to appease us fans for losing him…’cause at least he gets to play)…but nope..looks like he’s assumed to be a 4th OF in that horrendous outfield of Washington.
I received my pre-ordered copy of The Cheater’s Guide from Amazon last Thursday (via Prime), so they must have starting shipping early. I spent a lot of time laughing while I read it (and I learned a lot too). It’s an excellent book DMZ!
Must be nice, I just got my email saying it shipped and I should get it tomorrow, thanks to Amazon Prime. Though the last time I checked on it, it said it wasn’t coming until around the first of April.
I encourage you to review it on Amazon if you’ve finished – it helps a lot.
Rassamafrassmrassamafrassam…..
Preordered in January or February, and STILL not shipping…
No problemo. Don’t think that should be a problem at all.