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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Hey RNC! I'm Down To Run

Republicans Don't Want To Be President - watch more funny videos

If you don't mind so many skeletons that I had to rent storage space. ;-j No, really. Call me. I'll do it.

Pretty Girl Update! - Julianne Hough

1. You know she's hot because she looks this good in candids. 2. Her dude is a talentless schmuck. & 3. May I please have directions to this beach.

While I Was Sminking - @ Da Clip Joint

Nick Hagadone

The Nick Hagadone train continues at full speed. Following a Friday promtion to Columbus, Nick has thrown three times and has already notched his first AAA win and save. The save came this afternoon as the Clippers put the finishing touches on a four game sweep of the Durham Bulls. Hagadone (2.08) pitched the final 2.1 innings allowing just one hit and struck out a pair. Scott Barnes picked up his third victory of the season (5 IP, 5 H, 2 R/ER, 3 BB, 7 K) and seems to have settled in a bit over his last couple of starts.

Jason Kipnis, batting leadoff since Ezequiel Carrera's promotion, has taken to his new role with aplomb. Kipnis (.292) raked 7-for-16 in the series (2 2B, 3B, HR) with four runs scored and five RBI. Cord Phelps conitnued his hot hitting as well, batting 7-for-18 with 2 doubles, 2 runs and 3 RBI. Many, including TonyIPI, believe that Phelps' (.310) promotion to Cleveland is as imminent as within the next week. Lonnie Chisenhall is a bit further off, but if Jack Hannahan cannot turn around his dreadful May performance (.520 OPS), we will likely see the Chiz Kid around the All-Star break. Chisenhall (.283) was 7-for-17 against Durham (2 2B, HR) with 3 RBI and 6 runs scored. Those are the 1, 2, & 3 hitters in the Columbus lineup. Chad Huffman (.263), who produced a 10 RBI game earlier in the season and has hit cleanup quite a bit, went 3-for-3 on Saturday, falling a single short of the cycle and driving in five. With production like that, winning becomes a lot easier.

Starting pitching doesn't hurt either. Jeanmar Gomez looks to have righted his ship ;-j with an 8 inning complete game victory on Monday night. Gomez (3.16) improved his AAA mark to 4-1 by allowing seven hits and two earned with two walks and three strike outs. Even so, I maintain that Gomez can be of no further assistance to the big club this season. I am in the minority here, but I would expect that Zach McAllister is now at the top of the minor league depth chart should the Indians need another starter before Alex White is healthy. McAllister is on the 40-man and has dominated the IL (7-0, 2.43) this year.

Both Steven Wright and Matt Langwell were briefly with the Clippers over the weekend. Langwell did not take the mound, though Wright did make his AAA debut as knuckleballer. He allowed 2 earned and 5 hits over 2.2 innings while striking out a pair. Wright succesfully protected the Clippers lead before being returned to Lake County on Sunday. Marty Popham has been added to the AAA roster in what appears to be a more permanent role.

Other Minor Points of Interest --

Beau Mills rounded into form over the weekend. Mills (.333) drove in a pair Saturday, three on Sunday and added a a 2-run pinch double yesterday. He is mostly DH'ing coming off a right achilles injury and has posted a .937 OPS in his first 7 games back. He has also not struck out in his first 20 plate appearances.

After missing eight days as he continued to rehab back from an oblique strain, Jared Goedert (.222) has played for the Akron Aeros on each of the past two days. Goedert hasn't been beating the world (1-for-6, 2B, 3 BB), but with a nagging pain like an oblique, easing back in is paramount.

Chun Chen (.277) double three times yesterday and drove home a pair. Chen, who can certainly hit, will be hampered by the fact that he has no true position to play at higher levels.

I suppose it is time to mention Tim Fedroff, expected by most to be the next outfielder added to the Columbus roster. Fedroff (.377) has posted a .929 OPS this season and is hitting .514 over his last 10 games. He spent all of 2010 with Akron, compiling an OPS of .715.

Adam Miller (2.70) has not been scored upon for Kinston since a shaky debut at the end of April. Miller picked up his first save on Friday and has put just five men on base over those nine innings and has fanned 12. His OBA is .167 for the season and .069 excluding that first appearance. Miller should see Akron very soon.

Giovanni Soto continued to impress as he evened his record at 3 on Friday. Soto (2.02) allowed a run (solo HR) on four hits and a walk over six innings. Giovanni struck out 8 and has posted an ERA of 0.71 since April 23.

After an awful start on May 8th, Captains pitcher Michael Goodnight has gotten right back on the horse. Goodnight (2.68) earned his third win of 2011 on Saturday, giving up a run on 2 hits and 2 walks with 7 punch outs. Excepting that rotten egg (1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 4 ER), he has returned a .139 OBA and an ERA of 1.99.

FotB Tyler Tufts remains a key cog in the bullpen of the AA Frisco RoughRiders of the run happy Texas League. Tyler (2.77) last threw on Friday, a successful 1.2 innings surrendering 2 hits and mowing down three. He has delivered a tremendous 11.0 K/BB ratio and a solid 1.15 WHIP.

Now you are all caught up.

Cheers.

Celebrities Pole Dancing On Network Television

My fiddle is tuned, polished and ready for flames.

A Quest Called Tribe

So here is the question - is Asdrubal Cabrera your American League MVP? AzCab certainly looks it after knocking both his 10th dinger of the season and the go-ahead double in a 3-2 victory. Let us take a look. Asdrubal ranks in the top 8 in all three of the triple crown categories, .312 (8th), 10 HR (T-4th), 34 RBI (T-4th). On a team that seems to feature a different offensive hero on each given night, these are pretty gaudy stats. He is also tied for 16th in the AL with 7 stolen bases (0 CS) and is 7th with a .919 OPS.

All of these numbers sound awesome, but they are a whisper to thin. Why? His name is Jose Bautista. Joey Bats (.353, 19 HR, 32 RBI, 1.330 OPS) is destroying the ball. Many argue that there is no possibility that he maintains this pace for the entirety of the season. Well, the same could be said of Cabrera. At heart I am a stat guy and these days I put the most weight into WAR. There are a number of different calculations for this metric and I prefer that of BaseballReference.com. So far in 2011, Asdrubal has accumulated a WAR of 2.5, good enoguh to tie for 7th in the AL. Bautista is far and away the leader at 4.4.

Others argue that there are factors that these numbers do not take into account. The Indians are 15 games over .500 (Wow!), while the Jays are just a single game up. The Indians have had to deal with injuries to several key starting pitchers and their two best known offensive cogs. The Tribe has put this run together with Jack Hannahan at third and their 3 and 4 hitters mired in season long slumps. I will point to the fact that Most Valuable Player directly implies that the winner should be the player who has added the most value to his team. What do we call value in baseball? We rename it as wins. Thus, the question boils down to which player has added the most wins to his team. Supposing that you accept the objective validity of the WAR measure as I do, then, while Az has had an All-Star campaign, he falls just short of the MVP threshhold.

Amazingly, there are other players on the team and some of them are drawing a fair amount of concern. am looking at you Chris Perez. Chris seems to have conjured the spirit of the all-mighty Bob Wickman in putting together a Picasso of a season. When you do not take the time to look closely 1-1, 13 saves and a 2.70 ERA seems to be a pretty nice campaign. I choose to dig a bit deeper. Since beignning 2011 with 8 straight scoreless appearances, Perez's ERA is 4.38 and he has walked more (10) than he has struck out (8). Over his last four appearances just 36 of his 68 pitches have been for strikes and he has put 8 men on base in four innings. I will not nitpick the results, but we all should be wary of the fact that these tendencies may tip the scales against a team that has played 26 of its 45 games within 3 runs, including 16 of 30 wins.

Here's to hoping that Fausto Carmona can deliver the same sort of start that he did in his first try against Boston (7 IP, 0 R, 2 H) and not the kind of crap he has coughed up versus those other Sox.

Cheers.

Pretty Girl 05.24.11 - Angie Harmon

5'10" with a Texas drawl y'all. Git along little dogies.

Monday, May 23, 2011

While I Was Sminking - Tribe Style

The Tribe swept the Reds! I hanging out in the mezzanine for the sold out Saturday affair. A better game you will never see. Josh Tomlin is not just the 5th pitcher since 1919 to pitch 5+ innings in his first 21 MLB starts. The man is beginning to look unstoppable. On a day when he was not as crisp as normal (only 57 of 85 pitches for strikes), he still allowed just a run on 3 hits over seven strong innings. That run would not have even come across had Orlando Cabrera done his job and cleanly started the double play to close the 7th. Of course that would have taken all of the magic out of Travis Buck's go ahead bomb. As my buddy said, "I'm so glad that Carlos Santana struck out." Tomlin's WHIP this year is a phenomenal 0.821. That is best in the bigs. Just for the sake of reference, the all-time season WHIP record is 0.737 (Pedro Martinez, 2000) and only Martinez and Greg Maddux (1995) have had one lower since 1913. Chris Perez earned the save while throwing 9 balls and 8 strikes, thanks for the adventure. Oh, and Vinnie Pestano is nasty.

Ezequiel Carrera and Josh Judy made their major league debuts. In one of the gutsiest calls that I have seen since April 7th, Carrera laid down a drag bunt on the first major league pitch that he saw. With two outs and runners on the corners with two outs, Zeke had to beat it. He did... by narrowly avoiding a diving Joey Votto and nearly running outside of the base path.

Judy's debut was not nearly as dramatic, but he did strike out the first hitter he faced and tossed a clean 9th on Sunday despite allowing a pair of hits. Asdrubal Cabrera likely added quite a few All-Star votes after scoring his first career five hit game and first career multi-homer game. Overall AzCab (.302) was 5-for-5 with two dingers, five RBI and a stolen base. After dramatic victories in the first two games of the 12-5 thrashiing of Cincy yesterday was a welcome chance to breathe easy. The sweep was the Tribe's 6th three gamer of the still young season as opposed to just 4 in all of 2010.

Manny Acta said today that Grady Sizemore will not need a minor league rehab stint before returning to the Indians lineup. Sizemore, eligible for activation from the DL on the 26th, will probably be the everyday DH for a couple of weeks to reduce stress on both of his knees. When Grady comes back, the Indians will have a difficult decision to make. Do they send Carrera back to AAA or do they finally cut ties with Austin Kearns? Regardless of the good will that Kearns built up last season, the need for a right handed bat cannot be filled by someone hitting .200 with a .577 OPS. His offensive WAR this season is -0.2. That means his bat is costing the team wins. Done and done.

The faint silver lining surrounding the injury to Alex White (a sprained ligament in his right middle finger) is that the Indians avoid having to make a definitive move concerning Mitch Talbot. He will now easily slide back into the rotation as opposed to a possible long man position or even a demotion to Columbus. Although the rotation will eventually have to be finalized, the situation gives the organization to see if Talbot's success before landing on the disabled list (1-0, 1.46) was an abberance or the emergence of reliable starting pitcher. Hopefully, it is the latter as White is expected to miss at least two months and, perhaps, the remained of the 2011 season.

More to come.

Cheers.