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Archive for February, 2009
Paul Gibson
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CitySeason Preview 2009: Red Sox
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 by Prof. Nerdtron 3000The Red Sox, by most any standard, put together a successful 2008, losing the ALCS in seven games. But the sustained excellence that began in 2003 has begun to move the bar for this team. I don’t want to say the World Series is the only measure of success. But at this point, I expect the team to vie for the playoffs on a yearly basis, and play meaningful games well into September. The Yankees addressed their glaring needs with the two shiniest toys on the block. The Rays are young and talented, and unlike their old money division counterparts, presumably healthy. Toronto and Baltimore don’t stink. With the hurdles all lined up, what does 09 look like for the Sox?
The drill.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityWhen I was in junior high school, I played on a summer-league baseball team. One day, the coach arrived at practice with a new warm-up drill that he had invented. Successfully completing the drill involved following three rules: 1) Each player needed to face his partner, standing approximately 45 feet away. 2) Each player needed to throw the baseball as hard as they possibly could at their partner’s chest, as fast as they possibly could. 3) Players did not stop doing this new rotator-cuff-splitting-Tommy-John-surgery-inducing activity until the coach blew his whistle.
Coach named this new drill, “the drill.”
Fast forward to one week later.
Mike Davis
Monday, February 16th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York City
The little things that kill…
Sunday, February 15th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityThat’s right, I’m dropping a Bush reference from 1994…after reading this article from newyorkmets.com, I’ve been trying to distance myself from reality as much as possible. As far as I’m concerned, I’m still a freshman in high-school, and I expect to see the OJ car chase on TV:
In a scenario Manuel has contemplated, Castillo would bat leadoff, a position not unfamiliar to him, and Reyes, who has no career plate appearances as a No. 3 hitter, would bat third. Beltran could then bat second, a slot in which he has prospered in the past.
Luis Castillo leading off for a playoff-hopeful team is what I was expecting to complain about when I clicked on that article…little did I know that an ambush on my baseball-loving sensibilities was lurking Jeff Gillooly style.
After preaching a team-first mantra, Jerry Manuel turns into a bit of a basket case (#1 on the US Rock Charts).
The manager even went so far as to suggest a player who goes hitless in four at-bats but does the “little things” to help the team in one game might be rewarded the following day and have a better chance to play than a teammate who had two hits in four at-bats but did nothing to enhance the greater good.
What exactly will these hypothetical players be doing that will be more valuable than getting two hits? Is a catcher going to be throwing out 8 runners in the same game? Is a player going to be getting walks in 6 consecutive plate appearance? Is he going to make three home-run-robbing catches over the wall? Will the guy who gets two hits also make four errors?
Manuel called it “kind of a ticklish situation”and noted, “We have to applaud and celebrate the little things.”
Ladies and gentlemen, major league baseball’s first ticklish situation! It’s like that good natured man with special needs always says, “stupid is as stupid does.”
Let’s just sign David Eckstein and get it over with.
A bargain at any price…
Friday, February 13th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York CityFirst off, happy spring training everyone!
While looking at some of the contracts given out this winter, I was wondering what some of the worst (and best) returns teams might expect from their investments. I decided to look at the top 50 player salaries for 2008, and compare this with their WARP1 (wins above replacement player, normalized for the season…this metric also rewards/punishes a player for their defense) performance. I chose WARP1 because I was only interested in 2008 salary/production. Read on to find out which players were a good value per WARP, and which player would’ve been more valuable for his team if he was playing for someone else…
Luis Rivera
Thursday, February 12th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York City
Manny, oh Manny
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 by Nerdzah Ball SoupAs a recent transplant to Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of seeing the impact that Manny Ramirez had on the Dodgers last season. LA is not much of a sports town to begin with, and the mediocre play from the Dodgers over the last two decades caused most Angelinos to give up on baseball entirely in favor of the Lakers. It’s hard to blame the fans when your team has 5 playoff appearances in 20 years and you live in a city where most people are more passionate about their avocado smoothies than the local ballclub. It’s also hard to have faith in a team that consistantly signs over rated and over the hill players to ludicrous contracts. 2008 looked like another sub par year for the Dodgers, but we all remember what happened. Manny came to town and single handedly saved their season.
I’m a huge cynic, but it was an amazing experience to see one player completely revitalize a franchise and get thousands of people caring about baseball again. For the last two months of the season, all anyone could talk about was Manny. And judging by talk radio and the occasional scientific poll, it was hard to find someone who would say anything bad about him. Everyone wanted him to sign a longterm deal, and no one seemed to care how much it cost. Of course it’s easy to say that when you’re not sitting across the table from Scott Boras and he’s asking you for $200 million, a private jet, a solid gold robot maid and custody of your children(contract details may not be accurate).
No matter the details, most locals I’ve talked to are infuriated that the Dodgers haven’t found a way to sign Manny yet, and will probably go back to not caring about baseball if Manny is anywhere but LA this season. Obviously Manny couldn’t give two shits about where he plays, just as long as they pay up and put up with his childish (though amusing) behavior. I guess I can’t blame him for wanting to get the best deal, but it would be a shame to see this city lose it’s renewed passion for baseball just because Frank McCourt won’t pony up for a bowling ball made out of blood diamonds – or whatever crazy shit Manny wants.
I die a little inside…
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 by I Love Nerd York City…every time a Mets headline goes something like this instead of something like this in the year that they’re moving into a new stadium.
