Answers to fantasy baseball questions (and much more) since 1996
Todd Helton is quoted in this story as saying that the humidor helps the Rockies on the road: “Before they used the humidor, breaking pitches did not break as much at Coors as at sea level, so when the Rockies went on the road, they had to adjust to breaking pitches that actually broke.”
Do balls coming out of the humidor break more than those kept in the outside atmosphere? I don’t see why they should. The issue is how far the ball goes when hit, no?
Adam LaRoche’s problem, apparently, is ADD. He won’t take medication for it, however, or make excuses, which is why he sometimes looks like he isn’t paying attention to the game. Or he doesn’t hustle, as in a play in Monday’s game against the Nats. According to the experts quoted in this story, if LaRoche took the right medication he’d be a better baseball player. But there are a lot of people these days who say that taking the ADD medication helps them focus better, too, even if they haven’t been diagnosed with the disease. Since LaRoche can function on the extraordinary level of a major leaguer without taking medication, can his disease be bad enough that he should be allowed performance enhancing drugs his teammates and opponents aren’t allowed?
I’m just asking.
MLB – Cleveland Indians/Seattle Mariners Box Score Saturday May 6, 2006 – Yahoo! Sports
Seattle manager Mike Hargrove was tossed from this game in the third inning, and one of his coaches got tossed in the seventh, both for arguing balls and strikes. The odd thing is that Seattle starter Joel Pineiro struck out six and walked none in the game. Could the arguing have made a difference? (And I know that coach Mike Goss was chucked because the home plate ump appealed to the third base coach on righty Richie Sexson’s checked swing, rather than the traditional first base ump, but maybe by that point the ump was rattled.)
No point in digging deep into Jason Giambi’s numbers since mid-season last year, yet, but he was certainly the dominant AL hitter in the second half last year and the has continued in that role this spring. I continue to have difficulty ascertaining whether it was steroids that made him a great hitter and an MVP or not. Certainly the braying of those who thought his accomplishments all came because he was juiced has died down, but we don’t seem to be any closer to agreeing about what steroids can do to improve a hitter’s performance. Assuming Giambi is clean now, since he’s surely tested regularly, how can he continue to rank among baseball’s best hitters?
Cogent analysis of the A’s rotation this week from someone who pays attention.
Former Met and Giant announces his retirement at the end of this year in spectacular style. Bravo!
Hanged By His Own Testimony–A Washington Nationals Blog
Patience with Jim Bowden is running out.
Jeff Passan, a workaday baseball writer writing for Yahoo, does a fine job identifying the issues at play (and their importance) as we approach this year’s collective bargaining negotiation.
Cleveland 91-63 at Kansas City 52-101 7:10pm ET
In the Guide I wrote about Cleveland farmhand Jason Stanford: “He was arrested in September for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, and then missed his court appearance. It’s too bad, since control was always one of his bests qualities.”
Today Stanford called the magazine’s publisher and said he hadn’t missed the court date. The Baseball Think Factory page above has links to Cleveland Plain Dealer stories about the original arrest (JS made disparaging comments to a man wearing a pink shirt, apparently, which led to a bit of a brawl) and the court announcing after Stanford apparently missed his court date that they’d written the wrong date on his appearance ticket. So it wasn’t his fault. The links don’t work, however, so I’m basing this on the postings on the BTF page.
I’m certainly sorry for drawing on the mistaken AP story originally and am happy to point out the error while wearing pink (actually salmon) slacks.
Trade rumors are usually worth the electrons their published with, but this new blog has a genial approach that suggests it will hold up as long as its author remains interested in being interesting. Worth adding to your feed, for now.