Friday’s Child: Losing it?

Went to two Yankees-Rays games this week and they couldn’t have felt more different, nor could my writeups pertaining to them. On Monday, I sat in the pressbox as the team welcomed Joe Torre and Don Mattingly back to Yankee Stadium for the first time since their unseemly departures and unveiled their massive, ostentatious monument …

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Friday’s Child: the Royal Sampler Edition

This week’s National and American League Hit Lists are up, as is the combined ranking with the all-important league adjustment (-21 points for NL, +24 for AL to balance out the asymmtrical number of teams). Here’s a royal sampler: [#2 AL Yankees] Tex Time: While helping to secure a series win, Mark Teixeira scores a …

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Ballgame Barbie She Ain’t: Emma Span’s 90% of the Game is Half Mental

What happens when a baseball outsider lands what seemed to be the job of her (yes, her) dreams, covering the two New York baseball teams as a beat reporter? What happens when that job is just as suddenly yanked away when her publisher goes through yet another regime change? Having crossed the line into professionalism, …

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Back in the Sausage Factory

As is my custom, every summer I take BP reader inside the sausage factory that is the Hit List. Usually it’s done during the All-Star week, but for some reason I waited with this year’s model: It happens every week: a reader sees his favorite team trailing one of its division rivals in the Hit …

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Clearing the Bases: Post-Rickey, Pre-DC edition

Whew, am I behind in my blogging. Here’s what’s not-so-new: • A Basseball Prospectus/ESPN Insider piece examining second-half strength of schedule, revisiting an earlier piece but using Hit List Factor instead of a team’s projected winning percentage. Here’s how the teams shake down: Team Season 1st 2ndBlue Jays .514 .497 .536Orioles .522 .510 .536Royals .505 …

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