Gene Autry or Aerosmith, it’s all good: [#1 Dodgers] Prodigal Sons: The Dodgers regain the Hit List top spot as Manny Ramirez returns from a 50-game suspension. He goes 6-for-18 with two homers and seven RBI, drawing louder jeers for being ejected after an awful strike three call than for his transgression. With Juan Pierre …
Last week’s Hit List, submitted for Thursday publication prior to my departure for Milwaukee (hence the holiday traffic title reference) but alas, not run until Friday. The list marks the first time since Opening Day that the Dodgers were not #1; they were one point short of the Rays. Ouch. Meanwhile, at a Fourth of …
It was a weird week for the Prospectus Hit List in that I worked ahead considerably so that I could enjoy a night out with my wife for her birthday. Then of course I found that three players whose slumps I’d highlighted — the Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez, the Rangers’ Chris Davis, and the Reds’ Willy Taveras …
Stuff from my latest three pieces at Baseball Prospectus: • In “Conquering the Cubs,” the latest edition of my “Pair Up in Threes” series, I examine the Brewers, Cardinals and Reds, all of whom are atop the Cubs in the NL Central race, a major surprise given that our PECOTA projection had the Cubs at an …
Choice cuts from this week’s Hit List, including about as much as I have to say about the Yankees’ recent sweep by the Red Sox: [#1 Dodgers] Riding high in April (.306/.423/.553) but shot down in May (.211/.306/.295), Andre Ethier has picked himself up and gotten back in the race. Collecting walk-off hits on back-to-back …
Randy Johnson won his 300th game on Thursday, waiting out an outburst of ark-building weather before getting down to business. Though he entered the game with a 5.71 ERA, the highest of any pitcher going into his 300th win start, he dominated the Nationals for six innings, throwing just 78 pitches and allowing two hits …
Greetings from Minneapolis, where I’m spending about a week centered around my wife’s cousin Julie’s wedding. Our trip kicked off in fine fashion on Friday, as within an hour of arriving at the airport, we were kicking back at a St. Paul Saints game, drinking beer and eating bratwursts. Awww yeah! The Saints, an independent …
For my money, last year’s biggest story in baseball was the way the Tampa Bay Rays’ turnaround was triggered by a record-setting improvement in their Defensive Efficiency. Of course, it certainly helped to have a stockpile of young talent, a shrewd GM and an innovative manager, but none of them would have likely gotten such …
I’m riding a hitting streak — four straight days of publishing at Baseball Prospectus, a first for me: • Tuesday’s Hit and Run explored April home run rates and found they were nothing remarkable within the context of the past decade and a half: Excluding the strike-affected 1994-1995 years, the 2009 season ranks seventh out of 14 …
Earlier this week, I had an epic-length free piece on Baseball Prospectus about the sudden flood of historical minor league data available online via the recently upgraded Baseball-Reference.com: While I’m hardly an authority on the topic, I’ve always had a soft spot for minor league baseball, probably because my formative years were spent in minor …