Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

All it took for John Smoltz to remember how to pitch…

Posted: August 31, 2009 by datechguy in baseball
Tags: ,

…was to leave the Red Sox and to face last place teams as often as possible:

Smoltz doesn’t care about the skeptics who point out his first starts have come against last-place teams. He struck out nine, including seven in a row, last Sunday at San Diego. The Nationals are 14-12 in August, with a shot at their first winning month since September 2007.

“People can say what they want about the Nationals maybe not having the best of years, but lately they’ve been swinging the bat extremely well, scoring in double digits every time you look up,” Smoltz said. “I was fortunate to keep them to one run.”

Smoltz has a 0.82 ERA after going 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA in Boston, leading to his release earlier this month.

All four of his wins this season are against teams in last place. He has also lost 3 games against basement dwellers. The combined record of the teams he has defeated this year is 206-318.

Will he manage to win against the big boys? Will the Cards choose to spot start him? Only the next month will tell.

Jose Reyes is out for the year

Posted: August 28, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, Sable Baseball
Tags:

Of course the the way the Mets are playing it doesn’t matter but that makes my trade look even better.

Intoxicated by the heady drug of victory…

Posted: August 28, 2009 by datechguy in baseball, gaming, hobbies, Sable Baseball
Tags: , , ,

…I find myself unready to make the last two trades that I should in the Sable Baseball league that I’m playing in.

I made a big trade at the all star break with the team in first, Picking up 5 players: Tori Hunter, Armando Galarraga, Adam Lind, Kevin Millwood and Orlando Cabrera for Jose Reyes who had an incredible card last year but will be a “fringe player” (unusable in our league) next year. (Dynasty Baseball generates cards based on the previous years performance). I also added from wavers veteran Omar Vizquel as extra defense and hit and run ability off the bench.

Since then I’ve gone 9-6 including series wins against three different playoff teams. Ironically I’ve gone 8-5 since Losing my starting first baseman and right fielder to injury (yes your players can get injured and suspended in this game). Hunter is hitting over 300 and has 5 homers in 15 games. Galarraga is 3-0 with one ND and in his first relief appearance for me came into a bases loaded no outs situation and struck out Pat Burrell and Lance Berkman before coaxing a ground out from Nick Markakis to end the inning. The team was so inspired they managed to score 7 (including a Solo Shot to start the inning and a two run triple from David Wright who won the previous game with a walkoff homer in the 12th) in the 6th to win 11-6. The team has not lost any game that Galarraga has appeared in.

Our trading deadline in in two weeks. Galarraga will not have a valuable card next year and Milton Bradley (.436 OBP last year, best on my team) is unlikely to be kept with Jason Bay in Left. Both have very high trade value. I have three teams I will need to pass in order to make the playoffs. Although next year I will not be managing this team (I’m league treasurer and took over when a player moved to Minnesota) the greatest value I can get for these players is right now…

…but looking at my remaining schedule It’s very possible that I can go 10-5 and perhaps even 12-3. I’ll be playing three of the teams I need to pass and I finish against the best team in the league that will have clinched their playoff spot long before then and resting starters to avoid injury or suspension. This team is clicking I KNOW I have a chance…

…but It is still much more likely I’ll go 8-7 or 7-8 but I just can’t bring myself to give up.

My next series is the last one before the trading deadline. If I manage win 2 of 3 I just HAVE to go for it.

Are you a fantasy baseball player? What do you think?

Oh and if you live in Central Massachusetts and are interested in taking over an up and coming team next year, let me know in comments and I’ll have our league commissioner contact you about our spot in our 22 year old tabletop league.

Forget the Cowbell More Yogi Berra please

Posted: August 10, 2009 by datechguy in baseball
Tags: ,

Via Baseball musings a collection of questions from fans and Yogi Berra’s answers. The most interesting in my opinion:

Randy asks: How you keep your legs in such good shape after all those years catching?

YB: “Well, I had a knee replacement seven or eight years ago. But I played a lot of soccer when I was a kid, a lot of running. We did anything. Our pitchers back in spring training, they did a lot of running. I talked to Tom Seaver at the Hall of Fame. Legs. Legs mean a lot. You don’t have to lift those weights. Soccer was real good.”

For me that’s the best endorsement of soccer I’ve ever read.

As a Boston person I really shouldn’t but you can’t help but love Yogi who is in my opinion the best catcher there has ever been. If you are building a team you want him on it period!

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