EVIL~! alkeiper

Kyoko Hamaguchi (daughter of Animal Hamaguchi) picked up her second bronze medal in wrestling.

Billy Wagner is a great example actually. Fourth in the NL this year in saves. Third among active pitchers, sixth all time. You do not think Wagner is a great closer. Yet he has all these saves? It seems either Wagner really is a good closer, or the save statistic does not tell the whole story. Honestly though, do you need the save statistic to tell you if a pitcher is blowing games?

Nope. Believe he reports tomorrow.

Crazy game in Allentown. The SWB Yankees scored seven runs in the top of the tenth inning. The IronPigs have scored four and now have the tying run at the plate. Edit: Steven Jackson to relieve, the Yankees have actually emptied their bullpen. They are literally covering the bullpen mound.

There's really something special about the last lap of the marathon.

I think the save is a pointless stat because really, it says little about the ability of the closer, other than that he is the closer. Compare Francisco Rodriguez to Joe Nathan, who I think everyone would agree is a tremendous closer. Rodriguez has saved 46 and blown five, while Nathan has saved 33 and blown three. Rodriguez's ERA is 2.86, Nathan's is a minuscule 1.05. Nathan has pitched slightly more innings and has better peripherals. Nathan has the track record to back this up. I think it is reasonable to say Nathan is a better closer. If Rodriguez breaks the save record, does that really change any of that? It does not mean Rodriguez is the best closer in the league, it simply means Rodriguez received the most opportunities. The save does not really measure a reliever's usefulness, just a specific situation. To draw an extreme example, look at Jim Konstanty's 1950 season. 22 saves, hardly impressive. But 152 innings (all in relief), 16 wins, the MVP award for a pennant winning team. He was used in a different manner than relievers of today. He was still an extremely clutch pitcher that year. Personally, I'd be hard pressed to find an example of a pitcher who was good at closing games, but had bad supporting statistics. A good closer should have good performance numbers such as ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, etc. A bad closer would have bad statistics. So what does the save statistic really add to any of that?

It certainly produced the second worst hitter in the Tobyhanna Township Little League, that's for certain.

Yeah, 57 by Bobby Thigpen in 1990. It's a bit of a mixed blessing. It's a nice mark, yeah. But in a way it's so utterly pointless.

Yeah, that was Mantaur.

Let's take a look at the Phillies' top 30 prospects and see how they look with less than three weeks left in the minor league season. Little statistics here, just opinions and analysis. If you need numbers, they are readily available. 1. Carlos Carrasco Good season, showing he can handle AA and making two good starts now in AAA. Not dominant, but probably a good mid-rotation starter in the making. 2. Adrian Cardenas Performed well in Clearwater before a trade to the Oakland organization. Now promoted to AA Midland, where the Athletics have moved him back to shortstop. 3. Joe Savery Disappointing showing, but low home run totals are encouraging. Savery has actually DH'ed in four games as well. Still a prospect. 4. Josh Outman Outman actually performed worse when converted to the bullpen. Traded to Oakland, the A's have placed him back in the rotation and promoted him to AAA Sacramento. 5. Kyle Drabek Coming back from Tommy John surgery, pitching in the Gulf Coast League. Next year will indicate where he stands. 6. Dominic Brown Great plate discipline and some pop. Potential star player on the rise. 7. Greg Golson That he can handle AA pitching and hit for average yet is a great sign. Strikes out often but shows a good approach at the plate. He is not a wild hacker. 8. Lou Marson Top-notch AA season. Phillies' catcher of the future. 9. Andrew Carpenter Hugely disappointing season, only now showing signs of coming around. 10. Jason Jaramillo Last really good offensive season was in Lakewood. A non-prospect, IMO. 11. J.A. Happ Has good minor league numbers but looked bad in the Majors. At 25, he's short on time. 12. Scott Mathieson Second Tommy John surgery. A longshot. 13. Freddy Galvis Slick fielding shortstop. Not producing much in Low A but not completely overmatched. Still very young. 14. Edgar Garcia Getting hammered at AA. Garcia has always been young for his levels, never impressive but always climbing the ladder. 15. Jason Donald Big season, climbing into the Phils' top ten next season. 16. Travis D'Arnaud Performance at Williamsport behind his already good defensive reputation will shoot him up the charts. If this has seemed an overly optimistic view of the Phillies' system, wait til we're finished. 17. Heitor Correa Has not pitched. 18. Travis Mattair Not performing well at Lakewood. Has at year a year to turn things around. 19. Julian Sampson Good groundball pitcher, but not getting many strikeouts. Again, has a year or two to improve yet. 20. Brad Harman Showing power, but numbers otherwise disappointing in AA Reading. He has a future if he can stick at shortstop, probably as a utility infielder. 21. D'Arby Myers Did so badly at Lakewood that he got pushed back to Williamsport. A good athlete but status is slipping fast. Too bad. "I'm thinking D'arby" could have been big. 22. Carlos Monasterios Poor season in Clearwater. Does not look like that Bobby Abreu trade will pan out. 23. Quintin Berry Currently riding a 30 game hitting streak. Speedy, not much power. He could be a fifth outfielder down the road. 24. Joe Bisenius At 25, if you can not handle AAA and do not dominate AA, you're not a prospect. 25. Tyler Mach Retired. 26. Antonio Bastardo Very good strikeout numbers, but beginning to struggle at higher levels. Has a future as a reliever. 27. Mike Zagurski Tommy John surgery. 28. Matt Spencer Traded to Oakland after a disappointing FSL campaign. He's hitting (albeit hacking) at High A Stockton. He was skipped a level, so I'd wait before writing him off. 29. Drew Naylor Great season in Lakewood but struggling in Clearwater. Still an encouraging campaign. 30. Lincoln Holdzkom Rule V pick returned to Boston before the season. Next, five players who emerged this season. Michael Taylor. Great numbers combined between Low and High A. One of the highest OBPs in the minors. Michael Stutes. 0.85 ERA with matching peripherals in ten starts. Jason Knapp. Strong strikeout numbers for high school draftee in GCL. Zach Collier. Early numbers from supplemental draftee are encouraging. Justin De Fratus. 20 year old pitching well in Williamsport.

Happ, Jaramillo and Harman, the three currently on the 40 man roster. Right now very few of the prospects are ready to fill a role in the big leagues.

Steve Carlton went 27-10 in 1972, +17 on a team that went 59-97 (-38).

BTW, the reason I wrote that is that I just couldn't bring myself to write "KKKtookmybabyaway" in the opening sentence of a blog entry, but I didn't want to run it entirely without giving credit somehow.

Don Kessinger I remember for producing an instructional video on baseball sometime during my childhood.

The Phillies are starting Eric Bruntlett (ugh) again at third base. I humbly offer the following suggestion. In Pedro Feliz's absence, make Chris Coste the everyday third baseman. Call up Jason Jaramillo to be the backup catcher and send down Mike Cervenak. They only seem to use Cervenak as a last ditch pinch-hitter, no use keeping him around. I watched Coste play third base, he can get the job done. No more of this nonsense of giving regular starts to the (f)utility infielder.

I'm pretty sure a guy like Crowley is ok with the joke. It really all seems tongue in cheek.

Brett Gardner and Cody Ransom to take their places. I assume Gardner becomes the center fielder for now. Ransom is a bit odd. I think the organization is down on Shelley Duncan. 2007 looks like a huge fluke for Duncan right now, as he is hitting just .213 in Scranton. Dan Giese is DL bound as well.

Gallardo's played three full seasons in the minors, and has proven himself in the Majors. He's more reliable next year than Sheets, IMO. Here's a gem from Jayson Stark's chat. That .234 includes 24 walks and a .393 OBP. Clearly teams are not pitching to him in those situations. "Close and Late" stats? Nice cherry-picking. Pick tie games instead (and ANY game that is tied is clearly an important batting situation, no?), and his splits jump substantially. The problem is when you divide plate appearances into small samples, you are going to find quirks somewhere in the data.

The Brewers are returning their entire offense, save Ray Durham. Sabathia and Sheets are free agents, but remember that they will get Yovani Gallardo back next season.

For the Phils and Yankee fans, tonight I'll catch Carlos Carrasco and Ian Kennedy in Scranton.

The problem is that Brandon Webb is 17-4. If he wins 20, he will probably win it unanimously. Sabathia would have to be perfect to pull it off, and that's not his track record.

Day Four Giants 2 Bridegrooms 4 WP: Stottlemyre, LP: Mays, Sv: Lyle Frankie Crosetti collected two RBIs in the victory. Highlanders 3 Dodgers 12 WP: Shawkey, LP: Wells Bill Dickey broke open the scoring with a grand slam in the first inning. Babe Ruth added two RBIs of his own. Bob Shawkey pitched a complete game for the win. Yankees 5 Gothams 4 10 Innings WP: Page, LP: Nelson Another extra inning game from these two. Jeff Nelson blew the save with Dave Righetti needing rest. Don Mattingly collected three RBIs including a two-run home run in the first. Earle Combs added two, including the game winner in the tenth. That gives us the Yankees and Dodgers at 3-1, the Giants and Bridegrooms at 2-2, and the Gothams and Highlanders at 1-3. Still a lot of baseball to come though. The Dodgers and Yankees play head to head in the next set of games.

And it's not hidden on that disc, it's advertised.

NBCOlympics.com has the baseball competition, USA/Netherlands going on as we speak. Steve Strasberg, a candidate to go #1 overall in next year's draft is on the mound for the Americans. Update: Nine up, nine down for Strasburg, including 6 Ks.

Day Three Bridegrooms 3 Giants 4 WP: Duren, LP: Lyle Elston Howard drove in the winning run with a walk-off single in the 9th inning. The Giants grounded into four double plays, while the Bridegrooms left 11 men on base. Dodgers 6 Highlanders 5 WP: Cone, LP: John, Sv: Gossage Bill Dickey collected two RBIs, Nick Etten hit a home run and double in the victory. Gothams 7 Yankees 8 10 Innings WP: Rivera, LP: Wickman The Yankees tied the game with a three-run seventh, and took the lead in the eighth. Mariano Rivera however blew a save opportunity in the ninth, giving up two runs. Dave Righetti coughed up the lead in the bottom half, leading to extra innings. Thurman Munson collected the walk-off single.