Site Issues

SB Nation has identified the issue affecting Purple Row and the rest of the network. Everything should be back to normal soon.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.purplerow.com/2012/9/16/3341888/site-issues

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Game 147: Cincinnati Reds @ Miami Marlins, Game
Thread and Ichthyomancy

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Current Series

Marlins lead the series 2-0

Fri 09/14 WP: Jacob Turner (1 - 2)
LP: Bronson Arroyo (12 - 8)
4 - 0 winSat 09/15 WP: Mark Buehrle (13 - 12)
SV: Steve Cishek
LP: Johnny Cueto (17 - 9)
6 - 4 win

Cincinnati Reds Red Reporter
@ Miami Marlins Fish Stripes

Sunday, Sep 16, 2012, 1:10 PM EDT
Marlins Park

Mat Latos vs Ricky Nolasco

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 85.

Complete Coverage >

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This feels strange to say, but get out the brooms, because the Miami Marlins are looking for a sweep.

I know, it's extremely odd, but the Marlins are indeed looking for a three-game sweep of the NL Central division leaders, the Cincinnati Reds. The Fish used pitching to win the first game 4-0 and hitting to win the second 6-4. This afternoon, they will need both to overcome the rubber match, as Mat Latos battles a suddenly hot RIcky Nolasco.

---

Current Series

Marlins lead the series 2-0

Fri 09/14 WP: Jacob Turner (1 - 2)
LP: Bronson Arroyo (12 - 8)
4 - 0 winSat 09/15 WP: Mark Buehrle (13 - 12)
SV: Steve Cishek
LP: Johnny Cueto (17 - 9)
6 - 4 win

Cincinnati Reds Red Reporter
@ Miami Marlins Fish Stripes

Sunday, Sep 16, 2012, 1:10 PM EDT
Marlins Park

Mat Latos vs Ricky Nolasco

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 85.

Complete Coverage >

---

This feels strange to say, but get out the brooms, because the Miami Marlins are looking for a sweep.

I know, it's extremely odd, but the Marlins are indeed looking for a three-game sweep of the NL Central division leaders, the Cincinnati Reds. The Fish used pitching to win the first game 4-0 and hitting to win the second 6-4. This afternoon, they will need both to overcome the rubber match, as Mat Latos battles a suddenly hot RIcky Nolasco.

Pitching Matchup

Proj Win%Proj ERAFIPERAMarlinsRedsERAFIPProj ERAProj Win%------3.974.40NolascoLatos3.724.06------

Just when you think you have Ricky Nolasco all figured out, he goes ahead and throws up some ridiculous numbers your way and you are terribly confused once more. All season, we have been describing Nolasco as dead weight after a third consecutive year of falling strikeout rates and the highest walk rate since his rookie year. And just as we thought, "Yeah, he's done for," he goes ahead and pitches three gems in a row for the Marlins. In his last three starts, Nolasco has thrown 25 innings, including two complete game shutouts of the Washington Nationals. He has a 0.36 ERA in those three starts, and he has struck out 16 batters (16.7 percent of hitters) while walking just one (1.0 percent of hitters). The strikeouts are still down compared to years ago, but he also has held his home runs down for the second straight year, which has been his only saving grace this season. Can he keep up his hot streak against a good Reds lineup that has been grounded in this series? Probably not #MJIJ.

Remember how Mat Latos strikes out a ton of hitters and does not walk too many? Well, his strikeouts are down this season, but that is not the main culprit of his supposed struggles in 2012. His biggest problem is that, since moving to the Great American Ballpark, the fly balls that were once held by Petco Park in San Diego are now flying out more. Latos is allowing 1.4 homers per nine innings at home, and 14 percent of his fly balls in Cincinnati are going out. However, his road home run numbers are also up, so it is not just the park that has made him less effective.

Lineup

OrderPlayerProj wOBA vs. RHP1Bryan Petersen.3162Justin Ruggiano.3243Jose Reyes.3404Giancarlo Stanton.3795Carlos Lee.3246Greg Dobbs.2867Donovan Solano.2758John Buck.283

Bold Prediction: Reds def. Marlins 5-1

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fishstripes.com/2012/9/16/3341070/game-147-cincinnati-reds-miami-marli
ns-game-thread-and-ichthyomancy

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Happy Birthday Orel Hershiser!!!

Happy Birthday Orel Hershiser!!! It is amazing to think that today Orel Hershiser is 54 years old today!!!  It makes me feel older just thinking about it… Hershiser will be remembered most for his outstanding 1988 season.  With 23 wins, … Continue reading →

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http://bapple2286.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/happy-birthday-orel-hershiser-4/

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New York Yankees: More good news

Ohhhh yes, the New York Yankees are back in first place all by their lonesome after beating the Rays 5-3, which is great news but there is more. Rumor has it, via the NY Post, that speedster Brett Gardner has run the bases and practiced bunting for the[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ladylovespinstripes/~3/A5XuXO3avcA/

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Sunday Rockpile: Theories and hypotheticals
abound for 2013 as 2012 winds down...

So we're now on to Project 5184 as the Rockies now plan to go with the five man rotation with piggybacks for next season, citing slow recovery and development concerns as the biggest limitations to instituting a four man rotation with largely rookie or second year pitchers a mile above sea level. So the march of research goes on. The Rockies goals in this department should be two-fold, first to turn Coors Field back into baseball's best home field advantage by exploiting the unique environment and better understanding the limitations that the team's opponents won't be as prepared for, and second, to minimize the impact the effects playing so often at altitude takes on the team both at home and on the road. The Rockies front office seems to be focusing more on the second point rather than the first at the moment, whereas I think both are necessary for success in Colorado.

In a related article, the issue of being a pro athlete at altitude has become a major concern for the Rockies as Keith Dugger and the Rockies training staff works to minimize the health impact and quicken that recovery lag that hurts Rockies teams so badly.

Jim Tracy is all for the idea of going back to something as traditional as possible, which seemingly puts him a bit at odds with an organization that's finally recognizing that traditional baseball might not be the best for the Colorado environment. And because of the switch back to a five man rotation, the Rockies are suddenly in the market for impact veteran starters such as Kevin Millwood in free agency again. Woot. I feel those pennants knocking on the door.

Some Tracy trivia: I was looking at Tracy's playing career the other day and noticed that he officially made his MLB debut about two months before he actually appeared in a major league game. His first game after being called up by the Cubs was on July 20, 1980, but in August that year, the Cubs and Astros completed a suspended game from May 28, making his official debut May 28 despite the fact that he was with the Wichita Aeros of the American Association that day.

The Aeros that year (as they often did as a Cubs affiliate) finished last in their division, with the class of the league being the Tim Raines, Tim Wallach led Denver Bears. Denver's minor league success gets noted by Irv Moss today.

Also in the off season hypotheticals department would be a variety of Troy Tulowitzki scenarios brought up in this article by Troy Renck, including a potential position switch or a less possible trade scenario. The shortstop continues to recover and hopes to see some game action y the end of the season still, but next year is obviously the more important target the team and the player are looking at.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.purplerow.com/2012/9/16/3340834/sunday-rockpile-theories-and-hypotheti
cals-abound-for-2013-as-2012

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Sunday Pebble Report: Minor League Season Ends
With Tourists as Champions, Nuts Hopes Crushed

In the minor leagues, change is normal and normalcy feels like a change. Where managers and affiliates shift constantly, Joe Mikulik and the Asheville Tourists have been mainstays in the Rockies organization. The Tourists have represented the Rockies in the South Atlantic League since 1994, with Joe Mikulik at the helm since 2000. Yet a league championship had always eluded Mikulik and the Tourists, aside from a shared title in 2001 due to the 9/11 attacks. Finally, the Tourists are champions.

Asheville became a thoroughly compelling story in the Rockies' system this season. Many prospect fans, myself included, looked at the roster before the season and yawned. Seven members of the Spring PuRP's list were set to play for Asheville, but only one top 12 prospect (Trevor Story, #3) was on the roster Opening Day. Instead, this group became arguably the most dominant minor league team in Minor League Baseball, finishing with a MiLB-best 88-52 record and winning the North divisional title in both season's halves. Joe Mikulik was named SAL Manager for the fourth time in his career in Asheville.

In addition to Will Swanner and Trevor Story, who were among the Rockies' systems biggest breakouts in 2012, the Tourists experienced large contributions from past forgotten prospects (Tyler Massey, Delta Cleary) and excellent seasons from more under the radar players - Taylor Featherston, Sam Mende, Harold Riggins and Jordan Ribera.

Low-A Asheville - South Atlantic League Finals Game 4 - W 10-4, Tourists Win SAL Championship

The latter has filled in for an injured Riggins at first base since August 8, and his very good job continued into the season's final day. Ribera fell a triple shy of the cycle and drove in four to pace the Tourists' offense in a championship rout on the road and finished hitting .357 in the playoffs. Jared Simon, who hit .407 in the postseason, had three hits, and Tyler Massey hit a solo home run in the first inning to get the ball rolling.

Chris Jensen struck out eight in 5.2 IP for the Tourists, allowing two runs on five hits.

The Tourists finished the season leading the SAL in hits, runs, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases, batting average, OBP, slugging and OPS. That might not be shocking given their offensive home park, but the pitching staff also finished 4th in a 14-team league in ERA and led the league in shutouts.

If you want to order an Asheville Tourists championship t-shirt, e-mail jclemmons@theashevilletourists.com.

High-A Modesto - California League Finals Game 3 - L 2-3, Nuts Lose CAL Championship Series 0-3

The Nuts would not experience the same joy in their championship finals series. Jorge de la Rosa allowed three runs over five innings, striking out six on six hits. That would be too much for Modesto to overcome in Lancaster, where the JetHawks (Astros) completed the Championship Series sweep by outscoring Modesto 21-8.

The Nuts managed just three hits, but three of them came in a two-run fourth inning, with triples by Delta Cleary and Timothy Smalling, and a double from Brett Tanos.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.purplerow.com/2012/9/16/3340986/sunday-pebble-report-minor-league-seas
on-ends-with-tourists-as

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Collecting Chipper Jones (2003 - 2005)

I never really understood displacing Chipper Jones from his established spot as the Braves third baseman for Vinny freaking Castilla. Away from Coors Field, Castilla was a merely adequate major league baseball player. His first year with Atlanta, 2002, was abysmal and his second season he was, again, adequate. He certainly wasn’t the type of guy who forces you to move one of your superstars to a new position. Yet, for the second season in a row, Chipper Jones found himself as the Braves starting left fielder.

The Castilla acquisition wasn’t the first time the Braves asked Chipper Jones to move to a new position. As he came up through the Braves minor league system, Chipper was look at as the Braves shortstop for the future. He had the pop in his bat of a Cal Ripken, but he could fly on the base paths. When Chipper looked ready to make the jump to the majors to start the 1994 season though, the Braves had Jeff Blauser and Rafael Belliard at short and Terry Pendleton at third. They did, however, have an opening in left field, and that’s where Chipper set about making his first big league roster out of spring training.

Of course, we all know the story. Trying to beat out a ground ball, Chipper tore his ACL and his rookie year was delayed. When he arrived at spring training in 1995, it was as the Braves presumptive starter at third to replace the aging and departing Pendleton. During Chipper’s second year, the Braves were looking for an offensive boost to replace the injured David Justice and Jeff Blauser, and traded Roosevelt Brown to the Marlins for T.P. and now Chipper found himself at the position we all thought he’s play at, shortstop. The experiment was ultimately a disaster. Pendleton was finished and the Braves were probably worse off with him in the everyday lineup. (It’s one of those baseball ironies: without the success that Pendleton helped usher in, the Braves would not have been in a position to win the 1995 World Series, but with him, there’s no way they win that year and he hurt them in 1996.)

In 1997, Pendleton was gone and Chipper was back where he belonged, at third base. When Castilla departed Atlanta for Colorado after the 2003 season, Chipper remained in left field as the Braves experimented with the idea of Mark Derosa as the everyday third baseman. That didn’t work out, and once again, Chipper was back at "his" position. We’ve all seen how Chipper’s numbers compare to the great third basemen of the past. You can make a convincing argument that, behind the great Mike Schmidt, he’s the second best offensive third baseman of all-time.

Yes, I felt I had to clarify his rank among third baseman. It’s the one part of Chipper’s game that none of us like to talk about. It’s his defense. There’s a certain segment of Braves fans that believe Chipper Jones is one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball. That group includes many of the Braves announcers. The truth is far more complicated. I think the most accurate thing we can say about Chipper’s defense is that it has been slightly below average. There’s a reason that Chipper Jones was the player the Braves asked to move to left field.

Of all the "new" stats, none are as controversial as UZR. UZR is, essentially, an attempt to measure a player’s defensive contribution in runs allowed or runs saved. A UZR of zero indicates that a player is about league average at his position, while a positive number is how many runs he’s saved over league average, while the inverse is true for negative values. Taking this stat in isolation suggests that Chipper has been wildly inconsistent in the field. UZR suggests he was awful in 2006 (–15.4 UZR), 2009 (–9.0 UZR) and 2011 (–12.4 UZR), but played fine defense in 2004 (2.9 UZR), 2005 (3.7 UZR), and 2008 (3.5 UZR). One season does not tell the entire story. The numbers have to be looked at year to year, and year to year, they tell us that Chipper has been slightly below average.

I’m curious as to how other Braves fans view Chipper in the field at third base. To my eye, he’s makes the play coming in as well as anyone in major league baseball. On the other hand, he’s never seemed like he has great instincts at third and his range is limited. I’ve always thought he play’s olé with hard hit balls a bit too much.

I’m not looking to bag on Chipper’s defense. Most baseball players have holes in their game, and there are good to great everyday players at every position in the game who are below league average at defense. There’s certainly a difference in being below league average and being awful. So, I think it’s undeniable that the Braves would have been better off if Chipper has never played shortstop late in the 1996 season and left field for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.

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It would be easy to look at Chipper Jones 2004 season and see it as a season of great player beginning his inevitable decline. If you know anything about Chipper, you know that seeing that .248 batting average on the back of his baseball card has to eat him alive. Still, in the season in which he posted his worse batting average as a big leaguer, he managed to post an .847 OPS. His value was measured as 3.5 by fWAR. In other words, he was still pretty darned good. In 2005, he rebounded and managed to post an outstanding fWAR of 5.1 despite missing over 50 games.

Like most players who age and fight injuries, Chipper had to fight inconsistency. He fought that battle pretty well. Even when scuffling, Chipper was better with the bat than most. Still, what none of us could have predicted after the 2005 season, was that Chipper’s peak was still in front of him.

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Cards Pictured in this Post

• 2003 Donruss Diamond Kings Studio Series #DK15 ($2)
• 2004 Upper Deck Power Up #30 ($1)
• 2005 Upper Deck All Star Classic #8 ($1)
• 2003 Topps Finest Relic ($5)
• 2003 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Relic ($8)
• 2003 Donruss Team Heroes #36 ($2)
• 2003 Leaf Game Used Home Patch ($12)
• 2003 Upper Deck Superior Sluggers #2 ($2)
• 2004 Playoff Honors Piece of the Game Relic #PG7 ($15)
• 2004 Leaf Certified Fabric of the Game Auto Relic ($350)
• 2004 Topps Total #25 ($1)
• 2004 Topps Chrome Black #390 ($4)
• 2004 Upper Deck R-Class #71 ($2)
• 2005 Upper Deck Reflections Relic ($12)
• 2005 Upper Deck #308 ($1)
• 2005 Fleer National Pastime #27 ($1)
• 2005 Bowman Chrome #113 ($1)
• 2005 eTopps ($10)

Read The Full Article:
http://www.talkingchop.com/2012/9/16/3338536/collecting-chipper-jones-2003-2005

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Guys, we are aware of the malware message that
folks are getting when trying to get on Fish...

Guys, we are aware of the malware message that folks are getting when trying to get on Fish Stripes. Be aware that we've looked this up, and your system is not at risk in going on the site. Still, we're working with Google to get this mixup cleared up. Thanks

- Me, regarding malware messages from today

Read The Full Article:
http://www.fishstripes.com/2012/9/16/3341024/guys-we-are-aware-of-the-malware-mes
sage-that-folks-are-getting-when

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Sunday Reading- The BJ Upton Edition

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go the Yankees- Rays game at Yankee stadium, and while I will[...]

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http://blog.lovemyteam.com/2012/09/16/sunday-reading-the-bj-upton-edition/

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Sunday Morning Call: Revisiting The Perez Home
Run

Morning, all.

Still abuzz from the events from the previous evening. I can't imagine how that buzz would feel had I actually been able to watch the game.

Anyway, we have another game set to get underway in just a few hours and the Royals will try to put another one over the Angels to destroy their hopes at October baseball. (Does it make me a bad person that I'm rooting against two of the biggest spenders in the game who happen to be from Los Angeles? I hope the Angels and the Dodgers miss the playoffs. I feel like I live in NorCal. I should at least be an honorary citizen.)

After watching the Salvador Perez fair pole bomb like it was the Zapruder film, thousands of thoughts filled by head. (That alone is rare. My mind has a capacity of just a few thoughts at a time. I almost had a headache.) One of which was, the guy is turning into some kind of bad ball hitter. He swings at roughly 39 percent of all balls out of the strike zone and makes contact on a mind-blowing 89 percent of those swings. He doesn't walk, but he doesn't strikeout and he routinely hits the ball pretty damn hard. I think we're all good for that combination.

Here's a snapshot from Gameday of his home run:

Pitch one is a fastball up. It looks like a meaty pitch and naturally, Perez swings. Foul ball. Pitch two is a slider running away. Taken for a ball. Pitch three, a 94 mph fastball. Well, you see where it's located. And Perez yanks it. Beautiful.

Have an excellent Sunday. The Game Thread will be online in a few.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.royalsreview.com/2012/9/16/3340784/sunday-morning-call-revising-the-pe
rez-home-run

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