Baseball Life Lessons in North Texas:

This week, most around here were "A's get Toronto, which just beat Detroit, while the Rangers paste the hapless Devil Rays -- moving closer to first place before facing off with Oakland, woohoo!"

Um ... not.

Well, that was quite possibly the worst game of Your 2006 Toronto Blue Jays (the most heartbreaking one was Bradley off Ryan back on July 30th.  What is it with these A's).  Morpheus getting crushed by Lord Voldemort.  Sigh.

During last night's broadcast, JP was on for a bit, and he said that on August 24, 2005, Josh Towers and Gustavo Chacin had 21 wins combined.  That itself just about sums up this season.

Veteran Bauxites, I need clarification, why is E------ L----- called Lord Voldemort?  Is it just playing on the He Who Shall Not Be Named meme?  But why can't he be named?  The Michael Young trade?  His bad hair styles?  In any case, here is a funny article on "The Wartime Dolphin" (yet another obscure nickname for him).

why is E------ L----- called Lord Voldemort?  Is it just playing on the He Who Shall Not Be Named meme? 

Basically, yeah.

But why can't he be named?

In general, I think it's because He-Who is the embodiment of evil.  He reminds me of Agrajag, the creature in Douglas Adams's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, who gets killed by Arthur Dent in every life he ever lives (he is continually reincarnated and then eventually killed by him again).  That's E------ L-----.... he's Dent, and we're Agrajag.

Another reason to resent E....L......: 

Although not EL's fault, he was traded from Texas for some guy in the farm system named Michael Young.  The future All-Star.  And if Vernon Wells ends up going to Texas in 08, the EL trade will continue to be paying its rich 'dividends'...

A very interesting WWJP last night.

 
- Towers will have to earn a spot in the rotation next season. It won’t be given to him.

He still believes in Towers, especially now his back is against the wall so to speak.

 - A caller talked about JP’s 5 year plan when he took over and about his draft picks. The caller pointed out because he selected mostly College players, we should see some results by now. The caller wasn’t happy with the drafting.

 JP said he’s not even sure he mentioned a 5 year plan when he was hired.

 He completely disagreed with the caller about his drafts. He talked about how the Jays have Russ Adams and Aaron Hill. He asked the caller if he liked Overbay. The caller said yes and JP said he used draft picks to get him. He then mentioned a lot of good young prospects in the farm system like Lind, Snider, Thigpen, Marcum, Janssen, and Ricky Romero.

- Said Chacin was “terrible”. A caller asked him why wasn’t another SP used considering Chacin was awful in his rehab starts. JP said the Jays didn’t have another option.

 - When asked about how teams like the A’s and Twins continue to succeed, JP mentioned the Twins had a long stretch of bad seasons before they were good.

- He once again talked about the realities of the payroll situation. He pointed out the Yanks and Red Sox spend a lot more than the Jays. It’s tough to overcome those teams because they have a huge payroll advantage.

No offence Magpie, but I don't see how that quote makes sense. 

Towers has spent a decade determined to prove himself to those who took one look and told him he didn't have what it takes to be a big-league ballplayer.  Which was pretty much everybody.  So when all of a sudden he has run out of challenges to prove himself, and he gets the big contract in recognition of his talent, he suddenly faces a very different challenge, which is to reward the faith that others had put in him.  He hadn't had to deal with it before because no one had ever shown any faith in him before.

Different problem with a very different emotional challenge.  It really is a lot different when someone is counting on you, versus when they're not.

As for "hindsight", of course it's hindsight.  When you're trying to diagnose what happened to someone, you use hindsight.

This isn't someone thumping their chest and saying, "I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT TOWERS SUXORED, JP IS AN  IDIOT" like the chuckleheads around here do.  This is someone trying to figure out what went wrong, because most of us are mystified as to how he went off the rails.

E_____ L_____ signs autographs at the Rogers Centre... in blood!

An interesting stat:

How often does a bad throw occur that's not called an error but costs the defensive team a base? An example would be a base hit with a man on first. The runner goes to third, the outfielder attempts to nail him, but comes up short, allowing the batter to get to second. This is not ruled an error, but Baseball Info Solutions categorizes this as a defensive misplay. This play, and eight other similar throwing misplays tracked by BIS that cost the defense at least one base but are not ruled as errors, occur about once per game. Quite often.

Here is a complete list of throwing misplays by AL team for 2006 (through August 20).

    Boston Red Sox             42
    Seattle Mariners            44   
    Minnesota Twins           51
    Oakland A's                    52   
    Texas Rangers              55   
    Detroit Tigers               56
    Cleveland Indians         56   
    New York Yankees       59   
    Tampa Bay D'Rays       60
    Kansas City Royals      61   
     Los Angeles Angels     63
    Baltimore Orioles          64   
    Toronto Blue Jays          68   
     Chicago White Sox       71


The defending World Champion White Sox are last among American League teams. White Sox outfielders also have the fewest baserunner kills in the American League with only six thus far on the season. Ozzie Guillen's follow-up class to his "Bunting School" may be "Throwing School."

BIS also tracks a stat called "plus/minus", a stat based on zone rating that tracks players' ability to make plays on balls hit to particular sections of the individual ballpark, and compares them to the average.  These are the same plus/minus stats that John Dewan used in his excellent Fielding Bible published last winter.

AL team plus/minus stats for 2006 to date :

1. Detroit +66
2. Toronto +19
3. Oakland +3
4. Texas +2
5. NY Yankees 0
6. Baltimore -2
7. Minnesota -7
8. Chicago WS -7
9. Kansas City -8
10. Seattle -12
11. LA Angels -18
12. Boston -26
13. Cleveland -43
14. Tampa Bay -48

Toronto are +9 on groundballs and +10 on balls hit in the air, the only team to be positive in both numbers (all of Detroit's +66 is in balls hit on the ground... they are at 0 for balls hit in the air!).

    Interesting article in the Sun today about the Jays catcher duo.   Despite the widespread moaning about Molina by many Bauxites, the Sun argues that the Jays catchers have been virtually as good (offensively) as the Yankee and Red Sox catchers this year.   An excerpt from the article:

      Between them Molina and Zaun have combined to give the Jays a .271 average with 21 homers, 64 RBIs, 28 doubles and 59 runs scored.  That's on par with what their division rivals New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have received from their backstops.

  (here is the link:   http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLB/Toronto/2006/08/25/1775620-sun.html )

       My own impression is that Molina has been something of a clutch hitter for the Jays, often producing timely hits in key situations, and has been not as bad as the criticism would warrant.   Obviously he's not going to be brought back next year at $7.5-million, but does he deserve another chance at a lower salary?  And do we agree with the Sun's argument that the Jays catcher tandem has been as good as the Yankee and Sox catchers?

here is the first use of the "He Who Must Not Be Named" nickname

I guess I had my creative moments, back in the day....

Justin Miller? Wow, there's a name from the deep, dark past. I suppose he's operating a truck dealership somewhere these days. 

My own impression is that Molina has been something of a clutch hitter for the Jays, often producing timely hits in key situations, and has been not as bad as the criticism would warrant.   Obviously he's not going to be brought back next year at $7.5-million, but does he deserve another chance at a lower salary? 

I would prefer not, but would have to see the options.  is Thigpen ready for thirty games if we bring Zaun back?  for me, while i like benji, he is not the defender he once was and he is the slowest thing i've ever seen in my life (though, allegedly, he had an infield single and a triple in the past month - i didn't see the games and am assuming the triple cleared the wall, but benji ran out of gas at third).

I suppose he's operating a truck dealership somewhere these days. 

You misspelled "tattoo parlor".