Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Old school baseball chastised

Yankees pitching ace Chien-Ming Wang is on the shelf for up to 10 weeks, prompting team co-chair Hank Steinbrenner to lambaste the entire National League.

“My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century,” Steinbrenner said.

What caused this angry tirade?

Well, it certainly wasn’t caused by the fact that Wang couldn’t complete the seemingly simple athletic task of the running the bases. No, the cause for yet another Steinbrenner tirade is that the N.L. is playing with a cryptic “rule from the 1800s,” that makes pitchers bat.

“This is always a concern of American League teams when their pitchers have to run the bases and they’re not used to doing it,” Steinbrenner added.

Wait a second? Not used to running? Come on Hank, please.

Not delving into details, making pitchers bear bats in the N.L. adds richness to the strategy of the game. Strategy is lost when overweight defensive liabilities get three to four whacks from the plate per game.

Sorry Hank, the N.L. doesn’t need to adopt the designated hitter rule. You should make sure your pitchers can run.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Finally, on the prowl?

ESPN Researcher Mark Simon recently wrote that the Detroit Tigers are back on track. They swept the LA Dodgers over the weekend, giving them six straight wins and moving them within six games of the AL Central division leading Chicago White Sox. Simon writes “quite simply, the Tigers are now hitting the ball as they expected -- as everyone expected -– coming into the season.”

The Tigers are getting consistent hitting during this win streak (.345 team BA, 8 HRs, 5.8 avg. runs/g), however there’s another more important factor to their recent turnaround. Detroit is finally getting good efforts from the mound.

Looking at numbers from their last seven games (which includes a disastrous start from Dontrelle Willis) the Tigers pitching staff improved in nearly statistical category expect strikeouts. We’re talking team ERA, batting average against and walks. The most important being walks.

Detroit’s pitchers issued the third fewest number of base on balls during the past seven games, subtract Willis’ five walk effort and the Tigers have only given up seven walks in six games. If Detroit can keep up this kind of effort from the pitching rubber, they will make a run in AL Central.