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This Day in Baseball TDIB 23 April 2008
Recently, WPA has become a favourite stat to evaluate relievers. Care to guess which reliever is leading the majors so far in WPA?

If you guessed Jesse Carlson, you'd be... wrong. Papelbon is actually leading the majors, but Carlson is second. But he was first last night, I swear!

In other news:

-Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen are switching positions
-Did you know they have milb.tv? I just found out about it yesterday. Apparently the 800+ games you can watch are mostly AAA, but there are also 8000+ radio broadcasts available. It costs 30 bucks.
-Pistol demands a Free Adam Lind!
-Albert Pujols made his MLB debut at second base last night!
Posted by Dave Rutt on Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 11:32 AM EDT.
TDIB 23 April 2008 | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Mike Green - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 11:46 AM EDT (#183338) #
The major difference between the Jays and the Red Sox in 2008 so far is that the Sox are 9-0 in close games and the Jays are 3-7.
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Dave Rutt - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 12:15 PM EDT (#183342) #
Wayne Krivsky has been fired. On the surface it looks like a dumb move, since the Reds have a solid team with the potential to be very good within a year or two, once the young'uns are all up and producing. However, Krivsky didn't actually draft any of Bailey, Votto, Bruce or Cueto. Notable moves he's made include stealing Brandon Phillips for almost nothing, dumping Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez for relief, which is the opposite of what they got, and trading Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez, which can't fairly be evaluated yet (though it's looking pretty good for Texas at the moment).
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Magpie - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 03:10 PM EDT (#183358) #
trading Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez, which can't fairly be evaluated yet (though it's looking pretty good for Texas at the moment).

It's looking pretty good for both teams, actually. But Volquez (3-0, 1.21) is working for Dusty Baker, so let's all say a Hail Mary for him. Or something similar.
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greenfrog - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 04:41 PM EDT (#183365) #
The major difference between the Jays and the Red Sox in 2008 so far is that the Sox are 9-0 in close games and the Jays are 3-7.

True, but I don't think a losing record in close games should be viewed as an excuse. There may be more of an element of chance in determining the outcome of close games (baseball being a game of inches), but I think the Jays' record accurately reflects the team's overall performance, which has been nothing special.
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Mike Green - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 04:57 PM EDT (#183367) #
No, it's not an excuse.  But, it does help keep things in perspective.  The Yankees were at 22-29 last year at the end of May despite having a positive RS/RA because of very poor performance in close games, and we were pretty sure that that would not continue. It's much easier to turn around a mediocre W/L record when one is outscoring the opponents overall.  Conversely, the Sox will not continue to be perfect in close games over the season.
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scottt - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 06:35 PM EDT (#183385) #
There may be more of an element of chance in determining the outcome of close games (baseball being a game of inches), but I think the Jays' record accurately reflects the team's overall performance, which has been nothing special.

In my mind there's a couple of reasons why Boston is ahead, and the Jays behind in close games.

1) The Red Sox have been scoring more. The difference between a win and a loss in a close game is 2 runs.  The Jays haven't pitched well enough to overcome their lack of production, so the Sox win 6-5 in games the Jays would have lost 5-4.

2) Accardo has an ERA of 9.0 and a 0-3 record. League lost another. Boston has one blown save, but they won the game anyway.
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Thomas - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 06:46 PM EDT (#183388) #
I haven't seen it reported on another thread, so I'll post it here. The Jays lost Josh Banks on waivers to the Padres.
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jmoney - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 07:20 PM EDT (#183398) #
Unless my eyes are deceiving me. Alex Rios isn't playing again tonight. Is he injured?
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TamRa - Wednesday, April 23 2008 @ 09:56 PM EDT (#183412) #
Rios has the flu

Overbay has a tender ankle


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halejon - Thursday, April 24 2008 @ 03:06 AM EDT (#183446) #
But they've also allowed more runs. A LOT more. (106->87). When two teams almost the same run differential have vastly different records, there's a pretty serious amount of luck involved.
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brent - Thursday, April 24 2008 @ 06:01 AM EDT (#183447) #
game 22- WPA heroes Stairs (2), Inglett          Letdowns Halladay, Hill (7), Stewart (2), Barajas (5)
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TDIB 23 April 2008 | 12 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.