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5/7/2008
Billy-Ball Daily
Bill Chuck (Billy-Ball his own self)
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The only spin here is on my screwball
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Top of the 1st
SPEED IS EXCITING
The Giants new first-base coach and running instructor Roberto Kelly challenged the San Franciscans to run more in 2008, with these three words - "speed is exciting" and so far in 33 games the un-juiced Giants lead the majors with 38 stolen bases.
The Giants are on pace to swipe 192, or 73 more than last year, when the Mets led the majors with 200. But it seems as if most teams are trying to run more, further proof that the distortion caused by the Steroid Era is finally over and skills are coming back.
The Angels lead the AL with 32 steals and have hit 35 homers. The Red Sox have 29 homers and 26 steals. How’s that for balance?
Yet, the Diamondbacks, baseballs’ number one team, is still doing it the old-fashioned way. They are 21st in the majors with only 15 stolen bases, but fifth in the majors with 37 homers.
Here’s a look at this decade’s speed and power numbers.
In 2007, the average team stole 97 bases.
In 2006, the average team stole 92 bases.
In 2005, the average team stole 86 bases.
In 2004, the average team stole 86 bases.
In 2003, the average team stole 86 bases.
In 2002, the average team stole 92 bases.
In 2001, the average team stole 103 bases.
In 2000, the average team stole 97 bases.
In 2007, the average team hit 165 homers.
In 2006, the average team hit 180 homers.
In 2005, the average team hit 167 homers.
In 2004, the average team hit 182 homers.
In 2003, the average team hit 174 homers.
In 2002, the average team hit 169 homers.
In 2001, the average team hit 182 homers.
In 2000, the average team hit 190 homers.
Thus far this year the average team has played 33 games and stolen 20 bases and hit 29 homers; this projects to around 100 stolen bases and 150 homers which means that fortunately things are starting to even out.
Teams that are stealing frequently are meeting mostly positive results:
Here are the top ten teams with their stolen base total and their team record to date:
1. San Francisco 38 – 14-19 (doing better than expected)
2. LA Dodgers 34 – 19-14 (Torre’s team is hot)
3. LA Angels 32 – 22-13 (Good for 1st place)
4. Colorado 31 – 12-21 (worse than expected)
5. Minnesota 29 – 16-15 (doing better than expected)
6. Baltimore 29 – 16-17 (doing better than expected)
7. Tampa Bay 28 – 17-15 (doing better than expected)
8. NY Mets 28 – 16-15 (worse than expected)
9. Boston 26 – 22-13 (as expected)
10. Houston 26 -17-16 (doing better than expected)
Individuals who are stealing frequently are meeting mixed results:
The Rockies’ (12-21) Willy Taveras leads the majors with 14 stolen bases.
The Astros’ (17-16) Michael Bourn has 13.
The Twins’ (16-15) Carlos Gomez has 13.
The Mariners’ (14-20) Ichiro has 13.
So while early results are inconclusive, we can at this point draw two conclusions: teams seem to be stealing more and speed is indeed exciting.
Top of the 2nd
THE PITCHER WHO DOESN’T EXIST
Houston’s Shawn Chacon started his seventh game of the season last night in the Astros’ 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals. Chacon pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. Chacon picked up eight strikeouts (he now has 32 on the season), allowed four walks (he now has 22 on the season), and now has a 4.15 ERA in 45 innings pitched.
His record?
0-0.
He has yet to earn a decision this season.
Top of the 3rd
NAME THE PERSON
Who said:
A. “In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.”
B. “It’s over with. It sucks when it happens but you understand its part of the game.”
Your choices are:
A. Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister between 1937 and 1940.
B. Joba Chamberlain, Yankee set-up man between 2007 and 2008.
I know you could go either way with each, but the two “B” choices are paired as Joba Chamberlain showed signs he’s human as last night against the Indians he walked two batters and got two outs before serving up a pinch-homer to David Dellucci giving the Tribe a 5-3 victory. It's just the second home run Chamberlain has allowed in 37.1 career innings.
Joba has been amazing thus far:
• He had given up three earned runs in his career (36.1 innings) previously.
• The last time he walked two batters in an inning was in his debut last August when he was trying to throw the ball through a brick wall in Toronto.
• It was the first run he has allowed at Yankee Stadium in 14 appearances.
• It was the second time in 31 appearances he walked the leadoff hitter.
David Dellucci now has 10 career pinch-hit homers. In 12 big league seasons he has 94 all told.
Top of the 4th
IT’S ALWAYS AN OZ-FEST
White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen before Sunday's game against Toronto, said the White Sox are not sufficiently appreciated in their city despite winning the 2005 World Series.
"That's what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media, they forget pretty quickly," Guillen said, punctuating his outburst with a healthy dose of vulgarities as in, "We won (the World Series) a couple years ago, and we're (expletive). The Cubs haven't won in [100] years, and they're the (expletive) best. (Expletive) it, we're good. (Expletive) everybody."
He bemoaned the fact that the Cubs are considered the "best" in Chicago even though they haven't won a World Series since 1908, dropping F-bombs along the way. He fears his team will never get respect "no matter how many World Series we win."
Guillen also mocked the 25th anniversary of the rant by Elia, the former Cubs manager. Guillen predicted his own tirades will one day be equally legendary, and maybe lucrative.
"How many times do I curse people out? I will make a lot of money . . . I have to keep going because in the future Ozzie will need money," he said.
The White Sox, have dropped nine of 13 and are at 15-16 while the Cubs are 19-14.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE…
Before Sunday's game in Toronto, an unnamed player positioned two nude female blowup dolls in the clubhouse with bats of the players fanning out around them -- a ritual of sorts to try and get the team out of its slump.
Guillen said yesterday he wouldn't apologize for the presence of the dolls because he didn't think his team did anything wrong inside its own clubhouse.
"I don't think we tried to disrespect or hurt anybody's feelings. We just tried to have fun and to keep things loose. Obviously a lot of people took it the wrong way," Guillen said, adding he did not buy the dolls.
"I'm not going to say I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I can't come up with the words, because as soon as I say that, that means I'm guilty of something. I'm not. I'm not guilty. ... We just had a plastic thing sitting on a table and, wow, we're bad people," he said.
"No one one meant any harm by it. It was just kind of one of those things that just kind of happened. It wasn't meant to offend anybody," White Sox center fielder Nick Swisher said. "If anybody was offended by it, then I sincerely apologize."
Top of the 5th
THIS IS INTERESTING
This past Saturday, Astros pitcher Brandon Backe hit his third career MLB home run. That puts him at number seven all-time on the Astros list of home runs by pitchers.
Backe’s homer was followed by a Michael Bourn home run. Friday night, Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee went back-to-back-to-back. This was the first time the Astros had consecutive games of back-to-back homers since August 11-12, 1981.
Top of the 6th
BILLY-BALL-SITE-OF-THE-DAY
In response to the increasing incidence of kidney cancer in the United States, Hall-of-Fame pitcher, broadcaster for the Washington Nationals, and advanced kidney cancer survivor, Don Sutton, has teamed up with the Kidney Cancer Association, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals to launch the Stay In The Game kidney cancer awareness program. Stay In The Game is an educational program that empowers people affected by kidney cancer to seek support, resources and information that can help them build and stay with a treatment plan.
Stay In The Game provides educational materials, an informational Web site (http://www.StayInGame.com) and personal appearances by Don to support and provide inspiration to patients and their loved ones.
Top of the 7th
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Orioles (Jeremy Guthrie) at A's (Joe Blanton), 3:35
Indians (Cliff Lee) at Yankees (Chien-Ming Wang), 7:05
Red Sox (Clay Buchholz) at Tigers (Armando Galarraga), 7:05
Rays (Matt Garza) a Blue Jays (Shaun Marcum), 7:07
Angels (Jered Weaver) at Royals (Zack Greinke), 8:10
Twins (Livan Hernandez) at White Sox (Mark Buehrle), 8:11
Rangers (Vicente Padilla) at Mariners (Erik Bedard), 10:10
NL
Cubs (Jon Lieber) at Reds (Edinson Volquez), 12:35
Mets (John Maine) at Dodgers (Brad Penny), 3:10
Padres (Randy Wolf) at Braves (Tim Hudson), 7:00
Giants (Barry Zito) at Pirates (Phil Dumatrait), 7:05
Brewers (David Bush) at Marlins (Burke Badenhop), 7:10
Nationals (Odalis Perez) at Astros (Roy Oswalt), 8:05
Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) at Rockies (Jeff Francis), 8:35
Phillies (Kyle Kendrick) at Diamondbacks (Micah Owings), 9:40
Top of the 8th
DID YOU KNOW?
With mediocre reliever Craig Hansen recalled from Triple A Pawtucket the Red Sox have their top four picks from the 2005 draft on the roster for the second time this season. He joins Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and Jed Lowrie. It is the first time in the 43-year history of the draft that a team has had its top four picks in the majors together within three years.
Top of the 9th
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…
Julio Franco finally called it quits. The infielder announced his retirement last week to his Mexican League team, the Quintana Roo Tigers.
"I understand that my time has passed, and the great men and athletes know when to say enough."
The 49-year-old last played in the majors in 2007, when he played in 55 games with the New York Mets (40) and the Atlanta Braves (15). He batted .222 with one home run and 16 RBIs in 90 at-bats. Franco hit his last major league home run against Randy Johnson on May 4, 2007. At 48, he became the oldest player to homer in the majors.
The Dominican retired with a .298 average, 2,586 hits and 173 home runs in 23 seasons in the majors with eight teams.
Franco debuted in 1982 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He also played for the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.
In Japan, he played with the Chiba Lotte Marines, in South Korea with the Samsung Lions, and in Mexico with the Angelopolis Tigers and the Quintana Roo Tigers.
Bottom of the 9th
BUY THE BOOK
Bill Chuck is the creator of Billy-Ball.com and, with Jim Kaplan, is the author of the book, “Walk-Offs, Last Licks, and Final Outs – Baseball’s Grand (and not so Grand) Finales,” with a Foreword by Jon Miller available now from ACTA Sports.
Autographed first editions are available by contacting, Bill@billy-ball.com or order directly from Acta Sports, http://www.actasports.com/detail.html?&id=3427 or from your favorite bookstore worldwide.
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Information provided in Billy-Ball has been gathered from A.P. reports, espn.com, sportsline.com, mlb.com and numerous other e-sources. Opinions expressed in Billy-Ball are obviously solely the opinions of the author of Billy-Ball and do not reflect those of source material no matter how off the wall they may be.
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