Huge hat tip to Craig Calcaterra for pointing out this story, which solves myriad mysteries. Now we know:
1) Jason Phillips is alive and well.
2) Jason Phillips is now the Mariners’ bullpen catcher.
3) Jason Phillips can woo women with baseballs, and not just his (presumably) encyclopedic knowledge of turn-of-the-millenium indie rock.
4) Jason Phillips is getting married in the Safeco Field bullpen after the Mariners game on Sunday.
It’s like [Wright] is only capable of sustaining himself in two-week stretches… right now, he’s on another one of these hot streaks… the thing is, if this trend holds true, it means he’ll enter a new two-week slump starting this weekend… let’s hope that is not the case.
Wright’s tendency toward streakiness is a common point of discussion among Mets fans lately. It certainly seems like, as Matt writes, Wright endures two-week long slumps alternating with two-week long hot stretches.
What I wonder, though, is if there is any evidence — beyond just our perception — that any particular player is (pardon the oxymoron) consistently streakier than his peers. Is there greater variance in Wright’s production over short bursts, or are all players equally prone to streaks and slumps? Does Wright have higher highs and lower lows than most players, or do his simply get more attention because he’s very good and playing under a microscope, and because we’ve all decided in our heads that he’s streaky?
Over his first 13 games of 2008, Carlos Beltran posted a .959 OPS. Over his next 16, it was .553. In the following 16, it was .985. Then in the next 17, it was .718. After that he posted a 1.128 OPS over 17 games, then .668 for 19 games. He posted a .946 OPS his next 17, then, well, then he pretty much dominated for the remaining 36 games.
I picked that example off the top of my head because Beltran’s OPS and slash lines that season were vaguely similar to Wright’s in 2010. And obviously I’m using arbitrary endpoints at my convenience.
That’s sort of the point, though. If I had to guess, I would bet that all players are equally prone to hot stretches and cold stretches relative to their baseline performance. Obviously better hitters will get hot more frequently, stay hot longer, and produce more during hot stretches.
But I am not certain. We hear about streaky hitters all the time, but is there any hitter we could point to as stunningly consistent in his performance? If I had to guess, I would bet the only ones are the exceptionally awesome — Pujols, Bonds, etc. And even with those guys, you can isolate hot and cold streaks with a little creativity. Pujols posted a 1.017 OPS from April 5-May 6 this season, a .790 mark from May 7-29, and a 1.189 since then.
There must be a way to measure variance in week-to-week or month-to-month performance, and I want to know if there’s really any significant difference from player to player across the course of their careers. Get on it, science.
A friend and I were recently discussing the Braves’ amazing success culling young players from the Atlanta area, and we noticed that their budding ace, Tommy Hanson, was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He grew up in California, but that’s immaterial.
The brothers Hanson from the eponymous pop band “Hanson” — not to be confused with the Hanson Brothers — are also from Tulsa. And Tommy Hanson bears some vague likeness, at least in his coloring, to the boys responsible for “MMMBop.”
There’s no evidence on the Internet that Tommy Hanson is related to Hanson the band, but if either comes up in conversation, I strongly suggest you insist that they’re first cousins.
No one would believe that Tommy Hanson is the fourth Hanson brother, both because his family moved to California and because we would certainly hear about it more often if he were. But I think first-cousin is believable.
So you heard it here first: Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson is first cousins with Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson of Hanson. Tell your friends.
Big hat tip to Connor for pointing this out to me:
Argenis Reyes is currently hitting .197 with a .535 OPS in 66 at-bats for the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Can-Am League. Reyes, if you’ll recall, started 22 games for the Mets over the course of 2008 and 2009.
Abraham Nunez, he of the Abraham Nunez Axiom, has a bizarre .286/.467/.321 slash line for the same club, presumably because no Can-Am League pitcher wants to put the ball over the plate for a hitter of Abraham Nunez’s caliber.
Incidentally, when he came up in 2008, Argenis Reyes became the first Major Leaguer ever named Argenis. Earlier this season, the Pirates committed two pinch-hit at-bats to a fellow named Argenis Diaz, himself a weak-hitting middle infielder. The Major League Baseball rulebook stipulates that the league can not support more than one Argenis at a time.
UPDATE: As the Argenis Police points out in the comments section, the weak-hitting middle infielder known as Angel Salazar was actually an Argenis as well: His full name is Argenis Antonio Salazar. I commend the Argenis Police for their vigilance and diligence on what must be an enormously taxing patrol.
According to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via HardballTalk again), Chipper Jones has told people he will retire after this season.
Usually I enjoy greatness, even if it too often comes against the Mets, but Chipper is the one Hall of Fame-caliber player I always struggled to appreciate.
I wrote about this once before, way back in 2007. It was early August in my first year with press credentials, the Mets weren’t yet anywhere near collapsing, and Chipper had hit a 470-foot home run at Shea. So I wanted to write a column appreciating his dominance of the Mets:
But while Larry Wayne Jones, Jr. has certainly beat up on the Pirates as well, none of his children is named for Three Rivers Stadium or PNC Park. He calls his youngest Shea.
So I had to go to the source. With a large group of reporters, I waited as Chipper slowly pulled up a pair of black dress socks, put on shiny black leather shoes and tucked his sky-blue mock turtleneck (seriously, man, a mock turtleneck?) into sharply pressed black suit pants. Then he spoke:
“I’m not talking,” he said, contradicting himself. “I’ve been nice to you for long enough. Now y’all started crap. I’m not talking. Atlanta writers only.”
Jones was angry, apparently, about a story that ran in the New York Post involving Alex Rodriguez and the nation-wide steroid witchhunt. To punish one writer — or more accurately, one headline writer — Chipper elected not to speak to any of them. It makes sense. Have you ever gotten a subpar sandwich from a deli? What other reasonable response could there be than to swear off delis altogether, forgoing any delicious sandwiches you might have found elsewhere?
Because I wanted to write a post that presented Chipper’s achievements — if not the man himself — in a positive light. I can’t, though, and I’m glad for it….
Now, I can continue to despise this fixture in the Braves lineup. I can revile his beady little eyes and moronic chin goatee all I want, without any guilt. And the next time the Braves come to town, you better believe I’ll be leading the chorus:
Lar-ry! Lar-ry!
If what Chipper’s supposedly saying is true, Larry Jones will likely walk out of the Mets’ home park for the last time on Sept. 19. I will be there.
Granted, it’s even money Chipper will be hurt then, and there’s always a chance the two teams will meet again in the playoffs. But I want to see how the Shea Faithful send Chipper off. Will he get the ovation Reggie Miller received at Madison Square Garden? Or will he suffer one last round of “Lar-ry” jeers?
Apparently (and predictably) PETA is upset that the Marlins intend to put real fish tanks behind home plate in their awesome-looking new park.
PETA suggested the Marlins use robotic fish instead of real ones.
This is conflicting for me, and difficult to reconcile with my pro-robot, anti-PETA agenda. It’s the whole animatronic groundhog debate again.
I’m going to side with the Marlins on this one, though — all due respect to robot-fish — for a couple of reasons:
1) According to the HardballTalk story linked above, robot-fish cost about $250K each. Figure they’re going to need at least 10 to fill their tanks, and all of a sudden you’re talking about money that could be redirected to locking up Giancarlo Cruz-Michael Stanton.
2) While robots are cool, actual saltwater fish are awesome. No need to gild the lily. I imagine given a tank full of real fish and a tank full of robot fish, I’d probably check out the robot fish for a while because of the novelty factor, then go stare at the real fish for longer. Look at all the colors! How do they even make fish that look like that? Do they fry well?
Also, just look at how sweet this looks. Beats a brick or stone wall anyday:
Jeff Francoeur, on fans catching baseballs at baseball games:
“It’s like going to a hockey game and getting a hockey puck.”
He’s right, you know.
I really hope large-scale choreographed chants like this catch on stateside:
If you didn’t think Heath Bell was awesome after this interview with Yahoo! Sports in March, check out this clip from Ephraim Fischbein’s interview with the man for New York Baseball Digest:
Nickname – Heater or Taco
That’s right: Heath “Taco” Bell.
What a stud.
I interviewed Bell for the very first of our “On the Road” segments for what used to be called New York Baseball Today and is now The Baseball Show. I’m pretty sure it was my first on-camera interview with a player, and Bell seized the opportunity to mess with me. Even at the time I thought it was hilarious.
When two people are talking on-camera, they usually have to be standing uncomfortably close to each other. We’re accustomed to seeing it so it doesn’t look strange, but pay attention next time you see that setup and consider the distance you’d normally stand to have a conversation with someone at a bar or in your kitchen or wherever. Get into this business and you’re going to do a lot of awkward mantouching with professional athletes. Heath Bell appreciates that, apparently. I’m pretty sure he leaned in to kiss me at one point but it didn’t make the final cut:
Seahawks rookie wide receiver Golden Tate said Tuesday he was “very embarrassed” after police in the Seattle suburb of Renton, Wash., gave him a warning for trespassing into a gourmet doughnut shop at 3 a.m. last weekend….
He said a friend took a couple of maple bars from the shop, which is on the ground floor of the building in which Tate lives.
“They are irresistible,” Tate said of the pastries.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he has talked to Tate and agrees that maple bars can be irresistible.
Right, right, right. “A friend.”
I’m actually not a huge fan of maple-flavored desserts — they’re usually a bit too sweet for me — but I understand the allure of a 3 a.m. donut. And heck, if I lived above a donut shop, with all that donuty goodness lingering in my nostrils long after the shop closed, I might be tempted to break in after hours.
I mean, if they didn’t want Golden Tate trespassing and “his friends” stealing donuts, they could have stayed open 24 hours. Did anyone really expect this guy to walk right past a gourmet donut shop to go buy lesser donuts at a Mobil Mart or 7-11, just because the shop is closed for business? C’mon. Have you had those donuts?
That’s not a rhetorical question: Has anyone been to TopPot Donuts in the Seattle area? Can someone confirm if they’re good?
As Tate himself points out, the entire episode has been good for TopPot.
But I should note that this is not the first embarrassing off-field incident involving a professional athlete and a donut. Kevin Mitchell, at the height of his awesomeness, once went on the Disabled List after injuring a tooth biting a donut he had microwaved too long.
Hat tip to Paul Vargas for the link.
Tedquarters 