Why isn’t John Maine on the team?
Maine: 10-4, 2.71, 1.14 WHIP, .343 Slg., .214 BA, 2.33 K/BB
Sheets: 10-4, 3.41, 1.17 WHIP, .397 Slg., .246 BA, 3.48 K/BB
Oswalt: 7-5, 3.52, 1.39 WHIP, .400 Slg, .268 BA, 2.07 K/BB
Hamels: 10-4, 3.72, 1.21 WHIP, .448 Slg., .254 BA, 4.28 K/BB
It’s not like Houston/Milwaukee/Philly have no other players on the team.
Probably the same reason Jeremy Bonderman isn’t on the team.
Could also be that Maine is scheduled to start too closely and his team(I assume he’s on the Mets?) weren’t about to move his start for the AS game?
At least we don’t have the days of Cito Gaston naming 9 of his players to the team.
Probably the same reason Jeremy Bonderman isn’t on the team.
Could also be that Maine is scheduled to start too closely and his team(I assume he’s on the Mets?) weren’t about to move his start for the AS game?
Dunno. His next start would have been Tuesday (he pitched last night).
It does stink where each year there are deserving players who get snubbed since each team has to be represented by at least one player, and even teams that have more than one player going have guys that probably shouldn’t be there. For example, Manny Ramirez is one of six Red Sox players either voted or named (full disclosure - I am a lifelong diehard Sox fan, but this is a bit much) and he had a very slow start to the season and still isn’t hitting at his normal standards. Same thing with David Ortiz, voted in as a first baseman eventhough he’s a DH (Kevin Youkilis on the other hand has had a great first half and was worthy of being chosen) and his power numbers are down despite hitting just above .300. Beckett obviously deserves to go as does Papelbon and Okajima (probably the biggest surprise in the league in the first half with an 0.89 ERA - Gary Sheffield went as far as saying that he has the nastiest stuff he’s ever seen, and he froze Bonds when he stuck him out looking at a unbelievable breaking ball). Mike Lowell has had a solid first half as well, but I think more of a case could be made for Youkilis than him.
I don’t care, the last thing we needed was another Met on the team.
We’d need to also look at those players run support to really understand their records.
But a lot of the all-star thing is about popularity. Less so with pitchers and reserves, but it’s still about popularity.
I don’t care, the last thing we needed was another Met on the team.
We’d need to also look at those players run support to really understand their records.
I wasn’t aware that run support and things like ERA, batting average against, and K/BB were related.
Loosely: Run support +/- ERA = win/loss record
ERA being product of batting average against and k/bb (or an input to baa).
It’s a conspiracy.
As for the ERA discussion, OOPS and team defense is where I’d look. Opponents OPS (OBA + SLG) + how well/poor your team gets to balls is where it’s at. Obviously pitchers that walk more guys and give up extra base hits give up a lot of runs, and the inverse is also true. You can give up a lot of hits and have a low ERA … as long as those hits are singles and you don’t walk many guys.
Team defense plays an under-stated role. I’m not talking about fielding percentage. I’m talking about hits that could be outs or outs that should have been hits. Errors result in unearned runs (obviously), but the most frustrating thing is to make a good pitch, get the grounder or weak fly you need, and have an average or below average fielder not be able to get to it. Regardless of what they claim, all pitchers can do ERA calculations in their head, on the spot, and rather accurately. =)
Ken,
Another reason why I hate the sports media. All first half they are all asking “what’s wrong with Johan Santana”, he’s only 7-6? Well, in something like 7 starts, the Twins have scored 2 runs or less. He, Gil Meche, and Lohse are having horrible RS season. Johan could easily be 12-2. He’s near the top in all the significant pitching categories … outside of wins, which as we are seeing now (as compared to 1910) is much more a result of the team than it is the pitcher.
It’s (run support) is also not one of those things that’s difficult to look up … just (much of) the media is dumb and lazy. When all of the key pitching statistics are good, and the won-loss record is average or poor, then like duh, look at run support. I swear half of these guys didn’t even play youth sports, let alone high school sports. Geez.
It’s worthy of note that all-star voting is about a year behind, too. So people who had good season in 2006 or fast starts this year get the lion’s share of the vote.
Gil Meche didn’t get any run support when he was with the Mariners last year, either. Nor does Mariners pitcher Jarred Washburn and his ERA is under 4. About the only time the big sticks come out is when Felix Hernandez is pitching, and Hernandez gives up a LOT of runs. Strange.
As a HUGE Mets fan, I am glad Johnny didn’t get the nod. Although it is a nice personal accomplishment, and probably a lot of fun for the players, Maine is the best thing going for the Mets right now and a few days off means only good things. This way he can stay at home, get his regular throwing session in on Tuesday with the Jacket (Peterson) and get ready for the second half. If he were to go to San Fran he has to travel back to the West Coast and will probably return fatigued from the entire experience.
I do agree that he should get the nod based on statistical performance to this point in the season. If anything he deserves it over Cole Hamels from Philthadelphia. (Hamels has better stuff, but the phils play in a shoebox, so his numbers are worse.)
Team defense plays an under-stated role.
I was thinking about team defense as I watched the Braves and Dodgers kick the ball all over last night. At one point (4th or 5th inning) the Braves announcers figured that Atlanta had already given the Dodgers 5 extra outs. And not all of them were errors, just plays that didn’t get made. Like the throw to second that had a chance to get Penny as he was legging out his double…but the second baseman dropped the ball as he swiped to tag…no error…but likely would have been an out. Hudson was not pleased. Of course he gave up a leadoff triple in the 4th and got yanked…which I am sure didn’t help matters any.
You look at guys like Torii Hunter and Inchiro and Ozzie Smith, etc … and these could very well cause a pitchers ERA to be under zero. Every ball they get to that other fielders wouldn’t save an extra base hit. I don’t know what % of runners in scoring position actually score, but if it’s 50%, they save quite a few runs per year. I think it can also be assumed that 50% of outfield assist prevent an earned run from scoring (since they throw somebody out that would be in scoring position … 2nd, 3rd, or home).
I was watching the ChiSox-Twins game today before it turned into a football game (18-10), and in the first inning, Castillo was on second. Somebody hit a grounder to short, to the right of Castillo, and he rant o third which is an incredibly stupid play (Konerko also did the same thing later in th egame, BTW). Uribe made a nice play and threw to third to get Castillo out. Fields dropped the ball on the tag. No error. So instead of having a runner on first with one out, now there’s first and third with no outs … and the Twins went on to score 4 or 5 runs that inning. I don’t know if fans understand how significant or deflating (for the pitcher/defense) plays like that are. In this case Garland got 4 earned runs in a situation where (if Castillo is out at third), they might not score any.
The errors aren’t as always as significant to the pitcher as are the “shoulda hads”, the plays where the outfielder pulls up and lets a ball drop because he wasn’t charging hard enough or didn’t get a good read (or just doesn’t have defensive talent), or the ground balls where the shortstop had himself out of position because he was farting around with the runner on second, etc. Also, you don’t always need to diving, highlt-type play … just good defensive positioning and smart baseball.
Why isn’t the dropped ball on the tag not an error? You can’t presume the out?? If so, I’ve never understood that rule fully.
I don’t know if it was ruled that you can’t presume the out or the dropped ball was the result of contact.
When a player plows the cacther knocking the ball loose, the cathcer doesn’t receive an error.
I admit, I have never fully understood the “presume the out” thing. Isn’t that how an error is determined? A play that they should make results in an error, right?
If it’s a bangbang play, ball arriving just slightly before the runner, it’s quite a bit to assume the fielder will always make the catch and tag cleanly. Remember the “ordinary effort” clause. If the guy is waiting there fora few seconds with the ball and drops it, then it should be an error, and I think it gets scored as such usually, but how often does a fielder have that much time?
Here’s another one: Slow runner on second. Batter singles to right, runner waved home. RF throws in, has the guy dead to rights, but the throw is off line, so there is no play at the plate. There’s no error here because the runner is forcing the play and the fielders did not make it. Quite different from an ordinary play not being made, on a grounder or whatnot.
Always interesting though to see what goes through some scorers’ minds.
In your second situation I feel it should be an error on the RF’er for the bad throw, just like a bad throw from a SS to the 1B pulling him off the base.
In the first situation, I guess there is more complexity to the play, but it seems somewhat analogous to a 1B catching and then dropping a thrown ball.
The difference is that the runner caused contact, which led to the ball being knocked loose. That’s different than the 3rd baseman (or first baseman in your example) just dropping the ball … sort of how the catcher doesn’t receive an error when he gets plowed at the plate and the ball squirts loose.
Sure, if the base runner kicks or disturbs the ball then there should be no error. But if it is a bang-bang play and the fielder applying the tag drops the ball just because he is in a rush . . . that’s an error (to me).
I’m not an official scorer, so it doesn’t matter.
It often times will be (IMO). In the White Sox case, Castillo’s helmet hit the glove and the ball came loose (on a close play). That’s how I saw it. They could have given Fields an error and I don’t think there’d be a solid argument against it.