Get Used to It Mr. Strasburg

On the same afternoon when I watched Mike Pelfrey pitch eight innings of one-run ball only to see the bullpen (aided by a muffed fly ball) blow a 4-1 lead and cost him the victory, I saw that the same thing happened to Stephen Strasburg. That is, he left the game as the potential winning […]

An Interview with Texas Rangers’ Prospect Cody Buckel

Since Nolan Ryan became president of the Texas Rangers in 2009, they have become known as one of the tightest run organizations in baseball; combining savvy roster building with cultivating a deep farm system. Because of Ryan’s Hall of Fame pedigree as a pitcher, he has added pressure to develop a stable of dominant young […]

Strasburg, Part Deux

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Red Sox Poor Start The Result Of A Lack Of Discipline And Poor Execution

Home plate ump Dale Scott tells a chagrined Jason Varitek the play at home plate required a tag because Youk had tagged the third base bag The Red Sox put forth an embarrassing effort last night and, in the process, saw their record fall to 0-5… just the sixth time in the franchise’s history that […]

Derek Jeter: The Curious Downfall

When you glance at Derek Jeter’s .261 batting average in 2010, the first thing you ask yourself is: do I need glasses. Why? Because, barring an extremely unprecedented surge, Jeter is on pace to hit below .300 since 2002. More concerning, it will be his lowest batting average since 1995, his first season, when he […]

Joe Girardi’s Crucial Mathematical Error Costs Yankees Game

Picture this: a game lasts over four hours, uses 41 players, features 374 pitches, has two blown saves, and ends in a walk-off hit by pitch — by Mariano Rivera. Welcome to Yankees-Rangers, September 11 (and part of 12), 2010 It was a peculiar game to say the least, and it was no surprise that such […]

Aroldis Chapman’s Fantastic Pitch f/x

The last time I tried to copy and paste a graph from Texas Leaguers Pitch f/x database, the information didn’t translate.  Let’s see if this works. Here is supposed to be the side angle of Aroldis Chapman pitches from his Major League debut two nights ago.  Notice the excellent tumbling, downward action of his offerings. […]

Boulter and Guilmette garner league honors

Dave Brust knows baseball talent when he sees it. The Yankee skipper saw plenty of talent clad in pinstripes this summer. That being said, there are only so many post-season awards to hand out. Those getting the honor represent a team of quality players. 

Is Robinson Cano Less Aggressive This Season?

Robinson Cano’s career has been a battle of improvement. And, for the most part, it has been extremely positive. After nearly winning the batting title in 2006, and hitting .306 in 2007, things looked pretty good for Cano. But, once he hit .271 in 2008, the Yankees needed an answer. The answer was Cano’s aggressiveness. […]

Another Lost Cardinal Weekend

What is left to say about this team?  We are using up all the possible words to describe what we are seeing out of this team that, on paper, is one of the most talented ever to play in St. Louis but, on the field, has a frustrating inability to not put bad teams away. […]

Fastball, Fastball, Fastball

On the web there are numerous video clips of Nolan Ryan throwing fastballs and they loop over and over, fastball after fastball ad infinitum, Ryan’s seemingly effortless delivery going on forever in some parallel universe where he will throw forever.  That was my mental picture of where Stephen Strasburg should be as he neared the […]

Stephen Strasburg: It Was Bound To Happen

Almost three months ago, Nationals Stadium was filled for the first time in it’s existence. Not because the Nationals were playing well, but because the most sought after prospect in baseball, Stephen Strasburg, was set to make his debut. The day was June 8, 2010. The opposing team was the Pittsburg Pirates. If the uniforms […]

Northern League Making Attendance Statement

The Northern League made a major move in 2010 when it got back to a more attractive eight-team operation, and now it is making a challenge that might not have been easy to forecast. In its 18th season, the Northern is chasing the Atlantic League for the highest average attendance for every time the turnstiles […]

Pressing Matter: A-Rod’s pursuit of 600

Watching Alex Rodriguez swing for his 600th home run has been a frustrating experience. “Strikeout, groundout, popout” seems to appear in the box score every night. As he approaches plate appearance number 50 since home run number 599, it has become more and more evident that A-Rod is pressing. Here are four of Alex’s five […]

He Uses ‘The Only Sane Part of My Body’ to Throw Batting Practice

It often seems that when we dig deeper a story gets more interesting.  That certainly has been the case this summer in the process of trying to find the best possible information for this Notebook.  So today we are going to veer largely away from the usual stories of pennant races and exceptional performances to […]

Right On The Nose

My sainted father used to say that a pitcher should have the right to smack his fielders on the nose when they make errors that cost him runs or victories. I couldn’t argue then, and still can’t. Of course, it should work the other way, too. A team should be entitled to pummel any starting […]

Cardinals Continue To Roll

What’s been the most encouraging thing during this current Cardinal winning streak is that they keep winning in different ways.  The first couple of games, they slugged.  They’ve had good pitching performances.  They’ve had comebacks.  They’ve beaten pitchers that normally give them fits. Everything save the comebacks came into play last night.  OK, they didn’t really […]

Cards Soar In Foreign Land

You know, when the discussion of launching pad stadiums comes up, I never think of Toronto’s Rogers Center.  Wrigley, Coors, even the old Atlanta stadium that started the nickname.  However, if last night is any indication, Rogers Center is right up there with the rest of them. The Cardinals played the long ball better, smashing […]

Webster Wins In Walkoff Fashion Again

(Webster, N.Y.) If first impressions mean anything, the summer of 2010 promises excitement at Basket Road Field. Matt Delewski (Toledo) slashed a ninth inning one-out single just inside the third base bag plating Wes Winkle (Ball State) with the game’s only run as the Webster Yankees downed the Allegany County Nitros 1-0 in New York […]

Washington Is a Baseball Town (Again)

At the top of the seventh inning the crowd began the chant, “Let’s Go Stras-burg” to the same cadence that fans in DC have grown tired of listening to from Philly, Dodger, Red Sox and just about anywhere fans.  But this chant was all DC and it grew and built.  “Let’s Go Stras-burg” the entire […]

Laying An Egg

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or been thrown into some big glowing light on a remote island.  My work schedule has made it tough to blog this week and the Cardinals’ play has keep the motivation to blog down as well.  Let’s take a quick look at the Houston series […]

My Dinner With Ernie

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” I heard these words, and I knew it was time for baseball. I grew up just outside […]

Cardinal Comeback

First off, I want to say thank you to everyone who has expressed kind words over the Cardinal Blogosphere Guide.  I hope that it results in increased traffic for the blogs listed and that you can find another source of can’t-miss Cardinal writing. Perhaps it was just me, but it seems like if this was […]

Whatever happened to finish what you start?

For some reason, I can’t get Joe Girardi’s comments about possibly pulling C.C. Sabathia in the late innings of his start against Tampa Bay on Saturday, April 10 with a no-hitter intact because of his rising pitch count out of my head.  I understand that high pitch counts, especially early on in the season, can […]

Strasburg In Harrisburg: “When You Hear the Moos, You Know What to Do”

Yesterday I heard Stephen Strasburg throw eight pitches. By the time I realized I could listen to the game on the Internet and got myself connected, it was the top of the third inning in Harrisburg. Leading off the inning, New Britain Rock Cats’ catcher Alec Soto worked Strasburg to a three-two count, fouled a […]

Splitting the Weekend

Two games, one win. The Cards finally broke the seal on the win column this weekend.  After falling Saturday in extra innings to Florida, they were able to get a win against the Marlins on Sunday.  Kyle McClellan had a very solid start, but had to since his main competition, Rich Hill, was just about […]

Still Just Spring Training

At least there was a reason. Brad Penny was one of the most intriguing names brought into St. Louis during the offseason.  A lot of us were interested to see what this guy, who had been a very successful pitcher in the past, could do with Dave Duncan’s tutelage.  So seeing the results yesterday would […]

One Day Away

Pitchers and catchers “officially” report tomorrow.  In actuality, almost the entire team is already in Jupiter or doing prep work before getting there.  Still, sitting here with 19 degree temperatures outside this morning, waking up to read about spring training is just about glorious.  There’s magic in “pitchers and catchers report.” I believe that Brad […]