Freak Show

[kfay]

Dontrelle Willis' final line for today's game (Tigers v. Red Sox)

 

2.1 IP, 0 H, 3 K, 5 ER!!!!!

 

And now that Zach Miner has entered the game I have the privilage of seeing the best 1-2 combo I can recall since I umped little league games.

[Lobowolf]

That's got to be the craziest line I've ever seen.

[Al_U_Card]

Dontrelle may want to change his last name to Walker.... ;)

[Gerben42]

2.1 IP, 0 H, 3 K, 5 ER!!!!!

 

I see... ehh... I give up. Is this one of these 7 D in a W riddles? :)

[Mbodell]

2.1 IP, 0 H, 3 K, 5 ER!!!!!

 

I see... ehh... I give up. Is this one of these 7 D in a W riddles? :)

2.1 IP means he pitched for 2 1/3 innings, or got 7 players out. 0 H means he gave up no hits at all. 3 K means he struck out 3. 5 ER means he gave up 5 earned runs (basically the opponents scored 5 runs and none of them were because of defensive errors). In baseball that is pretty wild as normally you have many more hits than runs, and you almost certainly need to have hits or errors to score 5 runs in just over 2 innings.

[cherdanno]

I think it means he wasn't able to throw the ball in the target zone. If that happens 4 times, the batter can advance to the first base without ever hitting a ball. Apparently this happened many times in a very short period. Probably the equivalent of 3 bad passes in the first 10 minutes of a soccer game, all of them leading to a goal.

[PassedOut]

In baseball that is pretty wild as normally you have many more hits than runs...

Over time, a good hitting team will normally produce 1 run for every 2 hits. A weak hitting team will need around 2.5 hits to produce each run.

[Al_U_Card]

Bill James

[TimG]

In baseball that is pretty wild as normally you have many more hits than runs...

Over time, a good hitting team will normally produce 1 run for every 2 hits. A weak hitting team will need around 2.5 hits to produce each run.

I think this is a little off.

 

In 2008, there were 10,844 runs and 20,901 hits in the AL or 1.93 hits per run. Individual teams were all between 1.81 and 2.23 hits per run. The AL hits per run ratio has not been above 2 since 1992.

 

In 2008, there were 11,741 runs and 23,071 hits in the NL, or 1.96 hits per run. Individual teams were all between 1.81 and 2.27 hits per run. The NL hits per run ratio has not been above 2 since 1993.

 

If you look through franchise totals, you'll find that few have hits:run ratios over 2. And, I'd be willing to bet that the historic average is less than 2.

[PassedOut]

Your long-term figures are accurate of course. A 2:1 ratio, give or take a bit, always holds true over the long haul. However, teams hitting weakly during a slump do vary from that, as do the ratios of the opponents of teams experiencing a period of very good pitching: Giants hit:run ratio only 2.59 on April 17

 

I intended to provide a more specific rule of the thumb in response to the vague "...many more hits than runs..." statement. But I'm always happy when someone provides to-the-decimal-point accuracy. Thanks for your post.

[crazy4hoop]

If he keeps walking people like that, the Tigers will have to trade him. Maybe a National League team will take him, especially if he can still handle a bat. I'm not sure if the Marlins would have done so well awhile back without that stick in the lineup...

[Phil]

Did he hit any batters? Willis was wild when he played for Florida.

[mycroft]

Apropos of nothing, I remember from a book on classic Baseball players a quote about Don Drysdale:

 

"He would have considered an Intentional Walk 'a waste of three pitches'".

 

But yeah, it's bad enough seeing the Ken Johnsons of the world, without 5. Especially 5 in one inning.

[mike777]

"By Bill James

 

 

1. What I Would Do With the All-Star Game

 

If It Was Up To Me

 

 

 

First of all, I’d cut the rosters to 18 players. I used to be more radical on this, back when the managers had entirely lost track of trying to win the game and were just trying to make sure that everybody got one at bat. I couldn’t stand that. .. long strings of at bats the ONLY purpose of which was to enable people to say that “I played in the All Star game”. When they were doing that I wanted to cut the rosters down to 14. I have since realized there might be actual problems with playing the game with a 14-man roster, so I’ll agree to 18.

 

The composition of the rosters would be largely determined by the fans’ votes, in this way. Each city would be its own “precinct” for the voting, and each ballpark would vote only on the players who played there. In other words, the Pirates’ fans would vote on which Pirates’ player they wanted to send to the All-Star game; the Dodger fans would vote on which Dodger to send. Balloting would be only at the ballpark, and only for the players who played in that park.

 

The manager would pick the roster, within these limits:

 

1) That he must pick one player from each team,

 

2) That he must pick at least 8 players who finished first in the balloting in their precinct,

 

3) That he must pick at least 12 players who finished 1 or 2 in the balloting in their precinct,

 

4) That he must pick at least 16 players who finished 1, 2 or 3 in the balloting in their precinct, and

 

5) That he cannot pick more than two players from any team.

 

 

 

Four players from the host team or the closest team in the other league would be designated as injury backups, on hand to insure that the game can be completed.

 

There would never be a situation in which it would be difficult to choose an outstanding team within these rules, absolutely never."

[Lobowolf]

Did he hit any batters? Willis was wild when he played for Florida.

He hit one, the rest were walks. Two scored (all runs came in the same inning) while he was on the mound, and he left the bases loaded. The relief was, ummm, relatively ineffective.

[Al_U_Card]

Did he hit any batters? Willis was wild when he played for Florida.

He hit one, the rest were walks. Two scored (all runs came in the same inning) while he was on the mound, and he left the bases loaded. The relief was, ummm, relatively ineffective.

Here is a thought.

 

Reliever comes in with the bases loaded:

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 3/4 of an ER if the guy on 3rd scores.

The reliever gets 1/4 of an ER.

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 1/2 of an ER if the guy on 2nd scores.

The reliever gets 1/2 of an ER.

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 1/4 of an ER if the guy on 1st scores.

The reliever gets 3/4 of an ER.

 

all pitchers only get credit for what they caused and not what was inherited.

[TimG]

Did he hit any batters? Willis was wild when he played for Florida.

He hit one, the rest were walks. Two scored (all runs came in the same inning) while he was on the mound, and he left the bases loaded. The relief was, ummm, relatively ineffective.

Here is a thought.

 

Reliever comes in with the bases loaded:

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 3/4 of an ER if the guy on 3rd scores.

The reliever gets 1/4 of an ER.

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 1/2 of an ER if the guy on 2nd scores.

The reliever gets 1/2 of an ER.

 

The previous pitcher is responsible for 1/4 of an ER if the guy on 1st scores.

The reliever gets 3/4 of an ER.

 

all pitchers only get credit for what they caused and not what was inherited.

If you really want to assign exact responsibility like this, you would also need to consider how many outs there were when the runners were inherited. At least it seems that way to me.

[Al_U_Card]

In the ER stats, they consider outs as "thirds" of an inning pitched so it is taken into account....sort of...but I see your point. :)

[TimG]

Along the same lines, if a pitcher leaves with a runner on first and the next batter grounds into a double play, shouldn't the pitcher responsible for the runner on first get some credit for the force out at second?

[Al_U_Card]

The original pitcher gets what he deserves (+1/4 of an "ER" only if the run scores) while the reliever then "benefits" from the legacy of 1/3 of an inning pitched for the runner at first.

[crazy4hoop]

8 more walks in 3 and 2 thirds yesterday. Way to go D-train!