All (Cliff Lee) or Nothing For the Yankees

Nobody doubts the power of Cliff Lee. In nine postseason starts in his career, he has an ERA below two, and a SO/BB ratio of above nine. After winning the Cy Young in 2008, Lee has blown away hitters in both leagues, recording ERA’s below 3.50 for three different teams in two seasons. Toward the end […]

Inspiration in Baseball

Ben Ulene started the Double Play Foundation in December of 2009 when he was going through his closet and noticed how many old baseball jerseys he had accrued over his adolescence and that he no longer had use for. “I thought that there had to be some way that these uniforms could be used again, as each one had been used for only one 3-month season and then put away, ” Ben told me. It was at that moment that he decided to pass-on his once prized possessions to others who may not be as fortunate as himself. He named his cause, The Double Play Foundation (DPF) and told me it was because “just like in a double play where one batted ball is used to get two outs, one baseball uniform is being used twice, doing double duty.”

The Day the World Met the Ryan Express

Nolan Ryan was far from the perfect pitcher. He walked the most batters in baseball history (2,795), 52% more than the next highest total belonging to Steve Carlton (1,833). He lost the most games of any pitcher (292) except for Cy Young (316) and Pud Galvin (310), two players who peaked in the 1800s. He […]

The National League Expansion of 1886

In January of 1886, the National League was still looking for the seventh and eighth members to fill their field of teams for the upcoming season. After the 1885 season, both the Buffalo Bisons and Providence Greys had been disbanded, and their players bought out by other National League clubs. On January 16th, a committee […]

Take Me Back to Texas, Please!

Josh Hamilton said he could smell the early voting on Proposition 19 wafting in from the San Francisco bleachers all night long. What was I thinking? Juan Uribe hasn’t played like this in years. Edgar Renteria looks like he is 19 again and Cody Ross is playing like he is on something.  The explanation was […]

The Class of 2010 – the New Hall of Famers

At the beginning of the 2010 baseball season, there were eight active major league players who had already earned obvious Hall of Fame numbers during their careers.  Here are those players: Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey, Jr., Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter, Jim Thome, Jason Giambi and Mariano Rivera. By the end of the 2010 […]

Josh Hamilton, Joey Votto Take Home Stan Musial Award

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance concluded their award season today by naming the best player in each league for 2010. When all the votes were tallied, two men were comfortably ahead. Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton, who hit 32 home runs and fashioned an OPS of 1.044 while leading the Rangers into the playoffs, won the award […]

El lado olvidado del béisbol (The forgotten side of baseball)

Sin embargo existe una faceta del juego que deben rendir todos los equipos cuando saltan al terreno de juego. Hablamos del desempeño defensivo de los jugadores, el cual puede tener tanta incidencia en el desenlace de un juego como lo que puedan hacer los pitchers o los bateadores.

Bill James’ World Series Predictor Goes With…

More than 25 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at […]

The 2010 Pennant Winners (How They Came to Be)

Using Bill James’s Win Shares, I’ll take a look at how each World Series team was formed. The information can be found at my site The Baseball Gauge. This page compares all of the 2010 teams. The percentages refer to the team’s percentage of Win Shares that came from each category with their rank in […]

Postseason Reform Is a Bad Idea

With the upcoming collective bargaining agreement set to occur, Major League Baseball is considering some ground-breaking changes that could change the course of baseball for years to come. ESPN reports that Major League Baseball could make a series of changes to the 2012 regular season and postseason. Changes could include shortening the regular season, making […]

Scenes and Quotes From San Francisco and the Giants Clubhouse After Winning the 1962 Playoff

A while ago I hunted down the San Francisco Chronicle from the day after the Giants beat the Dodgers to win the 1962 N.L. pennant. It’s been overlooked by the World Series that followed, but the race was a thriller that nearly matched 1951’s, and was the start of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry in California. To […]

Mickey Mantle: The Last Boy

“Get the f___ outta here. It’s like a cemetery to me.”     – Mickey Mantle National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum When I first saw Mickey Mantle he was standing next to a barbecue grill in the late afternoon light outside a motel room in St. Petersburg, Florida.   He struck a relaxed and happy pose, […]

The Last Game in Town

Sept. 30, 1971. Seventy years and 10,851 games into the story of American League baseball in the nation’s capital, the Senators, 38 games out of first place on the last day of the season, faced the Yankees in the final game in franchise history. The teams had split the first two games of the series […]

Molina to Get Ring Regardless of W.S. Victor

There are many perks to being a part of a team that reaches the World Series. The obvious ones are the chance at winning a Championship, being a part of history, and the ring. There’s the thrill of celebrating with your teammates in a dog pile on the field followed by a roomful of champagne […]

Serie Mundial inédita. (An original World Series)

Las sombras de Polo Grounds persiguen al pequeño centerfielder de los Gigantes de Nueva York que corre como un velocista de 100 metros. Lo único que se ve es el 24 burbujeando en la zona de seguridad, Willie Mays estiró el guante y la pelota aterrizó en la malla, parecía estar leyendo un libro. Giró y lanzó al cuadro en medio de su caida, a un lado flotaba la gorra.

Is The Bronx Zoo Returning?

If you followed the Yankees in the latter half of the 20th century, you know why the team earned the title “The Bronx Zoo.” From fights between Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson, to routine managerial firings, to passenger seat managing from George Steinbrenner, the Yankees were an absolute mess. As 2010 comes to a close […]

Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez Overwhelming Winners Of Walter Johnson Award

2010 was often referred to as “the year of the pitcher.” However, not all pitchers are created equal. The Baseball Bloggers Alliance announced today that Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay was the unanimous selection for the National League Walter Johnson Award, receiving all nineteen first place votes. In the American League, Seattle’s Felix Hernandez was almost as […]

Was The Vazquez Trade Worth It?

Ever since Javier Vazquez made a name for himself in 2004, after giving up a grand slam to Johnny Damon in the American League Championship series, Yankee fans have dreaded the sight of the right-hander on the mound. When the Yankees traded for Vazquez in the 2009 offseason, mixed feelings were going around. He was coming […]

An Over-the-Shoulder Preview

If it had been the Giants and the Yankees, the World Series would have had old world flavor and been a big television draw.  The money lenders cannot win them all.  Still, it will be an old fashioned World Series, one in which the very strong pitching of both teams will do much to decide […]

Yankees Can Look Forward to a Busy Offseason

With the Yankees’ quest for a repeat championship crushed by a hungry and talented Rangers team, the Bronx Bombers face a long offseason of uncertainty. It’s amazing how many leaks can spring up in what was supposed to be a $213 million juggernaut. Unable to fend off the low-budget Rays for the division title, the […]

Book Review: Strike IX

“This is bad.” With those three words, the horrific truth of their future thrust upon the Providence College Friars. Paul Lonardo’s Strike IX highlights the final season of the Providence College baseball team. In this stimulating account of pride and passion, Lonardo brilliantly ties together the motivated young stars who put together a historic, memorable […]

Bermuda Triangle Behind Home Plate

Something strange has been going on at home plate during the two LCS series. In the space of five games, we have seen five clearly blown calls on balls that never got past the plate. It’s as if there’s no umpire at all back there, or like a wrestling referee the assigned umpire is somehow […]

Dear Yankee Fans: Be Proud, Be Grateful

Just a day removed from the Yankees elimination, it isn’t hard to find a disappointed New Yorker. The beloved Yankees are done for the year, and their dreams of a second consecutive world championship are diminished. As many love to do, we can sit here and talk about what could have happened and what should […]

They Are Two Stepping in Texas

There is dancing in Texas tonight.  The Texas Rangers played the best two teams in the American League and beat them both in convincing fashion to win the first American League Championship for the franchise after fifty years of frustration.  The anticipation of history in the making gave drama to a game that was decided […]

Shuffle Leading to Three Dominant Indy Leagues

While a last minute change of heart apparently has kept the American Association from becoming a super-sized league approaching 20 teams, it is becoming increasingly apparent when all of the dominos have stopped falling sometime in the next couple of months Independent Baseball will have three dominate circuits. The non-affiliated brand of professional baseball started […]

Rafael Soriano, Brian Wilson Dominate Goose Gossage Award Voting

For an inaugural vote, it wasn’t much of a contest. Tampa Bay closer Rafael Soriano and San Francisco closer Brian Wilson handily won the Baseball Blogger Alliance’s first-ever Goose Gossage Award, handed out to the best reliever in each league. Soriano and Wilson, besides leading their teams to the postseason, posted numbers that well-distanced themselves […]

The Song Doesn’t Always Remain The Same

Baseball history, as far as I’m concerned, was made during Tuesday night’s 10-3 victory for the Texas Rangers over the New York Yankees in Game Four of the American League Championship Series.  In the bottom of the 7th inning actor Patrick Wilson came out to perform “God Bless America,” the singing of which has become […]

Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation: Pepsi Refresh Project

The month of October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, brings with it an exciting opportunity for our Foundation and the children whose lives we affect. The Joe Torre Safe At Home Foundation has been selected by Pepsi to compete for a $250,000 grant and the only way to ensure our success is through the support of […]

Cliff Lee Builds Drama With Every Pitch

When Cliff Lee poured three fastballs past Brett Gardner to end the eighth inning, it marked 122 of the best post-season pitches since Roy Halladay threw his no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. Lee did not have to finish this most recent of his numerous post-season gems. The Rangers busted the game open in the ninth […]

Buster Posey, Neftali Feliz Win Two-Man Races For Willie Mays Award

The battle for the Willie Mays Award, given by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance to the top rookie in each division, turned out to be a two-man affair in both leagues, with Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey finishing solidly ahead of their closest competition, Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson […]

2010 Off-Season Will Be Historically Tough For Yankees

Two seasons ago, the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first––and last––time this decade. They went into the off-season with a sense of urgency––a sense that holds none of the connoted nerves for Yankees fans, considering they always have the financial power to get the job done. And they did. The Yankees signed three of […]

The Yankees Answer the Bell in Game One

A look at the toughness of the Yankees just as soon as Smithers brings me my vest made from real gorilla chest.  After the jump.

Lincecum versus Halladay

Siempre he preferido los duelos de pitcheo como el tipo de juego que disfruto más en el béisbol. “The Freak” contra “Doc” pareciera ser el clásico enfrentamiento de dos lanzadores con grandes temporadas que se van a enfrascar en una disputa de bateadores dominados que pudiera extenderse más allá del sexto episodio con la pizarra colmada de arepas.

Sabathia, Lee, Burnett, Pettitte, Hughes?

CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes. What would you say if I told you that was the starting rotation of a Major League Baseball team? You would probably say that they would inevitably be in the World Series, and it would be nearly impossible to beat them. Oh, you can also add […]

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