The baseball thread.

[Brock Landers]

re: powpigs article

the braves moved the fences in at their stadium the year johnson and evans started hitting homers

on a side note, what about jimmy rollins? he was a 10-15 homer guy until last year when he hit 25. he already has 9 this year

I was thinking the same thing about Rollins- 9 homers already? There are a few suprises, but every year there usually are at the beginning (Chris Shelton last year) Plus, that new park in Philly is a bandbox. They started playing in it 3 or 4 years ago right?

[stump832]

Worst trade of the last 5 years was Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser, and Joe Nathan for 1 year of AJ Pierzynski. Doesn't get much worse than that.

[smmokan]

Also, Rollins is what, 27-28? That's typcially when they say that players start discovering their power. He's always had "doubles power", so maybe moving to the new ballpark helped him out. Its tough to figure out if guys are doing it naturally these days.

[pappag]

Maine doesn't get the win, but Mets move to 7-0 in games started by him. Aside from the late-inning heroics, today was particular nice with the all-too-familiar Benitez meltdown.

[pappag]

Speaking of the random burst of homerun power, what's the verdict on Luis Gonzalez?
Looks awfully similar to that of one Brady Anderson.


Year - Age - HR

96 - 28 - 15
97 - 29 - 10
98 - 30 - 23
99 - 31 - 26
00 - 32 - 31
01 - 33 - 57
02 - 34 - 28
03 - 35 - 26
04 - 36 - 17
05 - 37 - 24

[powpig]

re: powpigs article

the braves moved the fences in at their stadium the year johnson and evans started hitting homers

According to http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/national/fulton.htm you are incorrect.

Park opened in 1966, a year later they extended the fences down the lines, in 1969 they shortened the power alleys and CF by a whopping 2 feet, in 1973 they put CF back to where it was originally & in 1974 they put the power alleys back to where they'd been originally. Then in 1977 they decreased the amount of foul territory, probably to put in more seats.

1966: 325 - 385 - 402 - 385 - 325
1967: 330 - 385 - 402 - 385 - 330
1969: 330 - 375 - 400 - 375 - 330
1973: 330 - 375 - 402 - 375 - 330
1974: 330 - 385 - 402 - 385 - 330

[MassLiberal]

Well, Dice K sure looked pretty good last night.

[smmokan]

Yeah, not bad against a team that's lost 8 in a row.

[Brock Landers]

I dont think DiceK is going to win the Cy Young. Too much competition:Beckett,Papelbon,Okaji...

[MassLiberal]

Yeah, not bad against a team that's lost 8 in a row.

Yes, but they lost eight in a row due to their pitching. Their offense is pretty sickbird.

[fez]

I dont think DiceK is going to win the Cy Young. Too much competition:Beckett,Papelbon,Okaji...

right now the AL Cy is Beckett's to lose.

[smmokan]

Right now the Cy Young in the AL is everyone's to lose.

[shmerham]

I didn't see the game. Did he pitch well or were the Jays just not hitting? Stat-wise (8 K's vs 3 BB's) I'd guess the former.

[MassLiberal]

No he pitched well. His curveball looked great, he was throwing it for strikes frequently, his fastball was good. only his chageup had some problems.

[iceman]

I thought he pitched well, he had pretty much everything working and threw a lot more fastballs than he had been doing the last couple times out. The change seemed problematic, but then he went away from it. I'd say it was his best outing so far.

[smmokan]

threw a lot more fastballs than he had been doing the last couple times out.

I think this is going to be the key to his success. His fastball is too good not to throw it more often.

[Steven S. Dallas]

From after DM's last start...

Originally Posted by Steven S. Dallas
There aren't a lot of guys in the majors this side of Tim Wakefield who throw less than 40% fastballs, and Matsuzaka is not on that program yet. The good news is that he locates a hard fastball well enough to be successful- he just need to throw it 60%+ of the time and he will be back on track.

John Farrell and I are clearly on the same page.

[Brock Landers]

I thought you were a lawyer? Here I found out youre John Farrell's confidante too?

[Steven S. Dallas]

Tony LaRussa's a lawyer, too; I'm just much better at handling pitchers than he is.

[smmokan]

At least you guys were smart enough to get rid of Weaver. That guy's horrible.

[CantDog]

Tony LaRussa's a lawyer, too; I'm just much better at handling pitchers than he is.

I cant tell if that joke is in horrible taste or not, but I still laughed.

[MassLiberal]

I cant tell if that joke is in horrible taste or not, but I still laughed.

Hey dude, what's the deal with this show you were talking about on Friday night? Do you not call people back anymore???

[half-fast]

powpig-I think people doubted the fence distances were accurate-

"The distance down the foul lines was 325 feet when the stadium first opened in 1966, but was increased to 330 feet a year later. In 1969, the outfield fence was moved in, reducing the distance to the power alleys by ten feet; the distance to center field was reduced by only two feet. Four years later (in 1973), the previous dimensions were restored. For some reason, there was a gap of about 15 feet between the fence and the "bleachers."

Even though the power alleys were rather deep (except for 1969-1972), this stadium had a reputation for being friendly to batters, partly because it was the highest altitude major league baseball stadium (over 1,000 feet) until the Colorado Rockies began playing in Mile High Stadium in 1993."

[CantDog]

Hey dude, what's the deal with this show you were talking about on Friday night? Do you not call people back anymore???

You called me in the midst of a killer migraine, sorry I didnt pick up, and promptly forgot about everything else that was occuring.

http://myspace.com/onemanleaves I just put in a RSVP plus two guests.

[72Twenty]

Biggio is now 36 hits away from 3000.