Interesting…

August 17th, 2008 by Christopher Confessore

http://www.simp.com/


Live From Coors Field

August 13th, 2008 by The Borg

It’s 6:50pm Mountain Time, and I’m sitting 21 rows behind the visiting AZ Dbacks dugout. Let’s PLAY BALL!

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I am Curious, Red

August 13th, 2008 by Brad Bannon

Hey Brad, curious what you think on these issues:
1) Trading Manny for Jayson Bay. (My view is that it had to be done since Manny was willing to lay down on the job, but will the Sox hold on to Bay or is he merely a two month rental?)
You’re right, they had to do the deal because Manny was on a sit down strike. He’s already at a standoff with Joe Torre in LA about cutting his dreads. It’s more than a rental for Bay because he is under control by the Sox thru the 09 season at $9 million a year which is half of what they would have had to pay Manny next year if they had picked up his option. They can use the money to go after a free agent like Adam Dunn.
2) Moving Masterson to the bullpen. (He’s pitched better than Bucholz this year and I think they should have kept him in the rotation.)
Right again. Taking Masterson out of the rotation was a big mistake. But getting Paul Byrd for the rotation was a big winner. Byrd is 4-0 with a microscopic ERA since the all star break.
3) Ellsbury. Have AL pitchers figured him out? Seems like he may have been overhyped by his hot streak last year.
Last year, pitchers did what they did with all rokkies and they threw him breaking pitches all the time. Well Ellsbury is a good breaking ball hitter so the pichers wised up and started throwing him fastballs. Ellsbury will have to adjust which he is already starting to do. He’ll be fine.
4) Varitek. Is he gone? (I hope so: it seems like the Sox timed his contract just about perfectly. Resigning him to anything more than a one year deal would be foolish). 
I agree. I love Tek but he can’t hit or throw anymore.


I just can’t get enough of this

August 11th, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger


Tiger Still Leading FedEx Cup!

August 7th, 2008 by David

I happened to check out the FedEx Cup standings for humor today.

With two weeks left in the “regular season” (whatever that means in golf), Tiger Woods is still leading the FedEx Cup points totals.  This is after playing in only 6 events, and being out due to season ending surgery since June 16 after winning the US Open.

#1 might not last through the regular season, but he is likely to stay in the top five:

Top 5 (name, events played, points):

Full FedEx Cup Point Standings
Kenny Perry with a first, second or third finish at the PGA Championship could finally overtake Tiger at #1 (after playing in 16 more events than Tiger…)

That is an insane level of Tiger dominance.


Youth may not spring eternal, but hope surely does

August 7th, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger

Brett Favre joins other Hall of Famers who played for the Jets, like Art Monk and Ronnie Lott.

Oh? You don’t remember their Jet tenures?

And in 20 years Favre’s Jet tenure will be as memorable as Willie Joe Namath’s Rams go-round. This is how it has always been with the Jets and so it shall ever be. Teases and moments of hope whose only apparent use is to raise Jet fans’ hopes for later dashing.

But … how glorious the view is from the summit of Mount Hope. Sure we know the scratching of pebbles only portends the avalanche of doom that will engulf this Jets team, but for a day or a week or a month the promised land seems as close as a Brett Favre throw.


Favre to Jets

August 7th, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger

17 years after the Jets traded up to draft QB Brett Favre (and watched him go one pick earlier) … Broadway Brett.


More fun football stats

August 5th, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger

More fun stats from Football Prospectus:

- The New York Jets threw to the left more often than any other team in 2007.

- The New England Patriots lined up five-wide more than twice as often as any other team in 2007.

- The New York Giants threw one third of their passes to the left, one third to the middle and one third to the right in 2007.


The Packers get some professional help, are preparing to invade Iraq

August 3rd, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger

The Packers have signed a high-profile free agent.

Ari Fleischer.

Yes, that Ari Fleischer.

He’s a Middlebury graduate by the way.

So what’s up with that? What could Green Bay possibly need PR help with?


Football sabermetrics: New York, New York — catching (and not) passes from Manning and Pennington

August 3rd, 2008 by Robert Schlesinger

I picked up the Pro Football Prospectus 2008 a couple of weeks ago and have been nibbling from it since. It’s great fun, especially if you enjoy the notion of bringing baseball-style statistical weed-diving to the pro football game. If stats like Defense-Adjusted Yards Above Replacement (DYAR) appeal, this book is for you.

But even if that doesn’t appeal, it’s got an appendix chock full of more digestible but still interesting statistics. I’ll endeavor to share a few over the next few weeks.

For a start how about the quarterbacks who suffered the worst and best rates of dropped passes in 2007:

* Eli Manning’s receivers dropped 49 passes last year, a clip of 9.3 percent, putting him atop the list (minimum 200 passes thrown). Chad Pennington’s receivers dropped eight passes for a clip of 3.1 percent.

More to come.


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