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Playoff Pulse: No Rest for Weary Sabathia

Andrew JohnsonPosted Oct 3rd 2008 5:30AM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, MLB Playoffs

In the Playoff Pulse series, our MLB editor takes on a hot October topic.

Considering how I raked Vladimir Guerrero over the coals for being a playoff choker yesterday, it'd be easy to do the same to CC Sabathia after his lousy Game 2 performance. Sabathia couldn't escape the fourth inning in a loss to the Phillies.

He surrendered a grand slam to the light-hitting Shane Victorino, walked pitcher Brett Myers (and three others) and put the Brewers in a 2-0 hole that they are unlikely to climb out of. More importantly to Sabathia's legacy, it extended a rough run of performances in the postseason that extends back to last year.

The burly left-hander has just two wins in the playoffs -- one of which came back in 2001 -- and a career postseason ERA of 7.92.

But it's hard to blame Sabathia or anyone else really for what happened Thursday night in Philadelphia.
Continue Reading Playoff Pulse: No Rest for Weary Sabathia

The Dugout: Welcome to the NL Cy Young Award 2008 Chatroom!

BPosted Sep 29th 2008 12:15AM by B (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, Diamondbacks, Giants, Mets, MLB Awards, The Dugout

Now that baseball season is almost over, it's time to completely forget about baseball and focus on awards season! My original idea for tonight's Dugout was the AL Cy Young Award 2008 Chatroom, but that ended up being Cliff Lee bouncing a rubber ball against a wall for 35 panels, so here is that Dugout's hotly-contested National League equivalent. On second thought, they should just give that to Cliff Lee too.

Tonight's Dugout, with all the speculation and obsessive statistical analysis you come to the Internet for, is after the jump.
Continue Reading The Dugout: Welcome to the NL Cy Young Award 2008 Chatroom!

Eye Toward October: Sept. 23

Andrew JohnsonPosted Sep 23rd 2008 2:52AM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Filed under: Diamondbacks, Mets, Rays, Red Sox, White Sox

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Big Papi Busts Out: The news was almost entirely bad for the Red Sox Monday night. Josh Beckett looked pretty shaky. Boston allowed the Yankees to stay alive another day -- mostly because umpire Gerry Davis got in the way of a two-run double.

The big bright spot? David Ortiz is rounding into playoff form. Big Papi had a terrible April, then injured his wrist in May, then lost the hitter who protected him for years, Manny Ramirez, at the end of July. But he's hit two home runs in the last two days, one to the opposite field in Toronto and a second to the deepest part of Fenway Park Monday. He's driving the ball like he rarely has this year, and Boston needs him more than ever heading into October.

The Red Sox are not as vulnerable as they were in 2005, the last time they had a championship to defend, but they also don't appear quite as strong as the teams that won in 2004 and 2007, especially with J.D. Drew likely out for the season and Mike Lowell hurting too.

The loss of players like Lowell, Drew and Ramirez and the general ineffectiveness and inconsistency of guys like Tim Wakefield, Manny Delcarmen and Jacoby Ellsbury means Boston needs its stars more than ever come playoff time.
Continue Reading Eye Toward October: Sept. 23

Eye Toward October: Sept. 18

Andrew JohnsonPosted Sep 18th 2008 4:36AM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Marlins, Mets, Rays, Red Sox, MLB Injuries

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- No Time for Panic: The Brewers finally stopped the bleeding Wednesday night, beating the Cubs to end a five-game winning streak and keeping pace with the Mets, who were also victorious, in the wild-card race. But they might be worse off anyway. Ben Sheets left the game after two innings with stiffness in his forearm. After the game, Sheets revealed he has been battling elbow soreness since late August -- describing it as a "cutting" sensation.

Yikes. Considering this is a team that just couldn't go on with its manager with two weeks left in the season and the wild-card lead, it's hard to imagine that the possibility one of its best pitchers being out indefinitely will go over well. Milwaukee has already made its panic move by firing Ned Yost. Now they're really in trouble, right?

Yes and no. Sheets was slated to make two more starts this season. If he can't make either, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that the Brewers have a better chance at qualifying for the postseason than they did yesterday. That doesn't mean we should bury them entirely, though.

After all, it's only two starts. Sure, maybe they're two of the biggest starts in a quarter century for the franchise, but how many mediocre pitchers, even terrible pitchers, have strung together two good starts in a row in the major leagues. Heck, Carl Pavano even won two consecutive starts at the end of last month.

Stars are born this time of year, but so are unlikely heroes who rise to the occasion at the right moment then fade into baseball oblivion. (See: Spencer, Shane.) Carlos Villanueva or Seth McClung would be in line to start should Sheets be unable to go, and both are capable of turning in a good start or two.

There have been plenty of histrionics about the Mets and Brewers collapsing, but odds are one of those teams is going to the postseason anyway. With or without Sheets, there's no reason it can't be Milwaukee.
Continue Reading Eye Toward October: Sept. 18

From The Windup: What Exactly Is an MVP?

Tom FornelliPosted Sep 12th 2008 9:00AM by Tom Fornelli (author feed)
Filed under: MLB Awards



From the Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

One of the great things about baseball is that a hundred different people can have a hundred different opinions on one particular player. Go ahead and ask ten of your friends who the best player in baseball is, and you're likely to get five to 10 different answers.

Yet at the end of every season MLB hands out awards to players proclaiming them the best in a particular area. There's the Cy Young Award for pitchers, the Gold Gloves for defense, and of course, there's the MVP award that's handed out in each league to the player deemed to be the most valuable.

The problem with this, though, is that nobody is exactly sure what MVP means. We know it stands for Most Valuable Player, and we know that most means having more of something than any other. We also know that player means guy who wears a uniform and swings a bat or throws a ball.

When it comes to the word valuable, though, there are a million different ways somebody can go when figuring out what it means. According to Webster's, valuable means "having monetary value" or "worth a good price." It can also mean "having desirable or esteemed characteristics or qualities" or being of "great use and service."

So it should be pretty easy, after all, all we have to do is find the guy who wears a uniform and swings a bat or throws a ball who has great monetary value at a good price, while having desirable or esteemed characteristics and is of great use and service.

So why the hell is it so hard to figure out who the MVP is?
Continue Reading From The Windup: What Exactly Is an MVP?

Brandon Webb 'Gets It' - Likely Hurts Cy Young Case With Hundreds of Old Writers

Matt SnyderPosted Sep 11th 2008 8:38AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
Filed under: Diamondbacks, Giants, NL West, MLB Awards

As frustrating as award season can be in Major League Baseball, the most maddening portion for me is -- bar none -- having to hear about a pitcher's won/loss record as the main indicator of a Cy Young candidate. The inclusion among many other factors is reasonable, because the pitcher's job on any given night is to give his team a chance to win.

It's pure laziness and insanity to glance just at the record of each pitcher, though, when deciding who deserves the Cy Young. Consider a pair of different outings to illustrate how accurate a measure wins and losses are when relating to pitching performance:

May 28th: Livan Hernandez went six innings. He gave up 13 hits and eight runs, six of which were earned. He did strike out a whopping two hitters. He also received enormous run support and came away with the win.

July 21st: Rich Harden went seven innings, and yielded only a hit. The problem was, it was a solo home run (landing in the first row). He also struck out ten. His team gave him zero runs in support and he took the 1-0 loss.

Based upon the archaic W/L criteria some Cy Young voters use, Livan Hernandez was the better pitcher of those two examples.
Continue Reading Brandon Webb 'Gets It' - Likely Hurts Cy Young Case With Hundreds of Old Writers

Eye Toward October: Sept. 6

Andrew JohnsonPosted Sep 6th 2008 7:30PM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, Diamondbacks, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, White Sox, Yankees

With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Wild-Card Races Taking Shape: This isn't quite what we expected a week ago. The AL wild-card race was supposed to come down to the wire with Boston, Minnesota, Chicago and just maybe the Yankees battling for two spots in the postseason, while the NL was supposed to be a foregone conclusion, with the hard-charging Brewers cruising into October.

But just the opposite has happened. Boosted by the superb play of Dustin Pedroia and the strong returns of Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell, the Red Sox are pulling away in the American League and making a strong push to win the East again.

Milwaukee, on the other hand, is slumping at the wrong time -- pulled down by a miserable relief corps. The Phillies are now lurking four games back of the Brew Crew. It's still unlikely that Milwaukee will miss out on the October festivities, but both of the NL East clubs have played well enough that a wild-card bid is not out of the question for either.

Time is growing short, but all it takes is a week for things to shift dramatically.
Continue Reading Eye Toward October: Sept. 6

From The Windup: The Perplexing 2008 NL Cy Young Race and Considering CC

Will BrinsonPosted Sep 2nd 2008 9:00AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Giants, Mets, NL Central, MLB Awards, MLB Media Watch

From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

While discussing the Cy Young on Sunday night, Joe Morgan said, predictably, that it was "Brandon Webb's to lose". In fairness, he's probably right. But ... I don't really think he should be. See, the Cy Young is all about perception.

Headshots via Getty Images
Well, not all about perception, but there's a pretty hefty chunk of voting attribution distributed towards the feeling of performance, rather than the strictly statistical discussion of how various pitchers have excelled throughout the season.

If that wasn't the case, then Randy Johnson would have won the Cy Young in 2004, when he very clearly outperformed Roger Clemens on the mound.

In an "ideal" world, there would be someone stuck squarely in the upper left quadrant above -- a pitcher with obviously dominant stats that were publicly recognized (because his team didn't stink). That rarely happens, though, and this year's Cy Young race is, when you really start breaking it down, one of the most intriguing we've seen in a few years.

After all, we have the heavy favorite in Webb, the best pitcher in the National League in Tim Lincecum, the discussion incumbent (Johan Santana), the early season surprise (Edinson Volquez) and a few darkhorses in Danny Haren and Ryan Dempster, the latter which is nothing short of shocking.

See, it's perception that led smart baseball guru types Bill James and Rob Neyer to create a formula entirely devoted to predicting the Cy Young balloting. Not "should win" mind you, but "will win" based entirely on what the voters tend to look for in their winner.

As you can see from the list, Salomon Torres is the eighth most likely pitcher to win the CY. I'm willing to bet he won't get any votes come the end of the year. But a guy who deserves some votes, or at least some Award-worthy buzz, for what he's done since the beginning of July, is CC Sabathia.
Continue Reading From The Windup: The Perplexing 2008 NL Cy Young Race and Considering CC

Eye Toward October: Sept. 2

Andrew JohnsonPosted Sep 2nd 2008 7:00AM by Andrew Johnson (author feed)
Filed under: Brewers, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Indians, Mets


With the playoff chase coming down to the wire, our MLB editor rounds up the five biggest pennant race stories in Eye Toward October.

- Arizona Aces Faltering: One of the reasons I, and several other pundits, think the Diamondbacks will be a very dangerous team in October is because of the Brandon Webb-Dan Haren-Randy Johnson trio at the top of their rotation. It has the potential to be devastating in the postseason, but if they don't get their collective acts together, it might be a moot point.

Haren, Webb and Johnson have started the last three games for the Snakes, putting up this cumulative line: 13 IP, 24 H, 16 ER. All three are seasoned pros, and if this were June or July, this streak would barely be worth batting an eyelash over.

It's September, though. Time is short and the Diamondbacks' edge in the NL West is slim. Arizona can't afford another stretch like this from the top three pitchers on its staff.
Continue Reading Eye Toward October: Sept. 2

Call The Cy Young Races Off

Craig CalcaterraPosted Aug 11th 2008 2:27PM by Craig Calcaterra (author feed)
Filed under: Diamondbacks, Indians, AL Central, NL West, MLB Awards

You never know what's gonna happen when you're a pitcher. You could go on a two-month slump out of nowhere. Steve Blass disease could rear its ugly head. You could suddenly become close personal friends with Dr. James Andrews. There are no sure things, really, but if you're Cliff Lee or Brandon Webb, you can probably start making space on your shelf for a Cy Young Award.

Webb gave up one run on six hits against the Braves yesterday, boosting his record to 17-4 and lowering his ERA to 2.88. He's head and shoulders above everyone in the NL in wins and at the moment trails only Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy, and Johan Santana in the ERA race. But not by much, and more important to the win-crazy BBWAA writers, none of those guys are going to match his win totals when it's all said and done. What's more, two of those three are certain to be watching the playoffs from home this October, and Santana's Mets stand a worse chance of playing in the postseason right now than Webb's Diamondbacks. Out of all of the challengers I think Linceucm poses the biggest threat in that two stellar months for him might have older voters reminiscing about Steve Carlton wining 27 games for a pathetic Phillies team in 1972, but this is really Webb's award to lose at this point.

Cliff Lee was even more impressive yesterday, shutting out the Blue Jays over eight innings. Lee is leading the AL in wins and ERA, and none of the three guys trailing him in the latter category -- Justin Duchscherer, Roy Halladay, or Felix Hernandez -- are playing for winning teams, ensuring that only Lee truly has a shot at both titles. Yet somehow Lee seems less of a lock for a Cy Young than Webb does, for the simple reason that Francisco Rodriguez is likely to break the saves record for the best team in baseball. AL voters haven't given a Cy Young to a closer since Dennis Eckersley got it in 1992 -- and the early season K-Rod buzz is certainly dying down -- but the save, she is a seductive stat, and to the extent Lee falters down the stretch, the writers have a fallback option in Rodriguez.

But it's not a smart option, because Lee, as Webb, have been dominant this year. And though it's only August 11th, we haven't had a a clearer choice for Cy Young this early in recent memory.

Continue Reading Call The Cy Young Races Off
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