Still Americas Pastime

There are few things sweeter than the sound of the ball hitting the sweet spot of a baseball bat.  Well, as long as it’s a wooden bat.  There’s a reason the expression is “the crack of the bat” not “the ping of the bat.”

While less than impressive, the sound of the aluminum bat is not the real reason for my dislike of the aluminum bat.

Aluminum bats can reinforce bad mechanics in a swing.  This is because when you hit the ball off the end of the bat or get jammed, you can still hit the ball pretty far.  You don’t have to worry about hitting the ball with the sweet spot.

I’m not proposing that we stop using aluminum bats.  For younger kids they’re great.  They’re lighter and you don’t have to replace them as often. 

But by the time kids get to middle school, they should only use wooden bats.  That when they’ll have enough experience to know what they’re doing, but still be young enough to not be totally set in their ways.  Plus they’ll have enough time to get used to wooden bats and fix their swing before high school and college.

No, I’m not talking about the Olympics or the World Baseball Classic (WBC).  The US defeated Cuba today 10-5 to win their 2nd consecutive Gold Medal and 4th overall Gold in the World Cup.

Although at it’s unveiling the WBC was called by some as “the Baseball World Cup”, this speaks more to the obscurity of the Baseball World Cup than the ignorance of the speakers. 

The World Cup has historically gotten little press coverage, probably because it occurs during the regular MLB season, and no Major League players participate.  The US does have some minor league players on its team.

The World Cup has been around since 1938, although it has grown since then (the first Baseball World Cup had two teams, with the United Kingdom team beating the American team).

Not only did the US win their 2nd consecutive Gold Medal, but they faced a familiar foe.  The Cubans lost to the US in the finals last year as well.  In face the two teams have met 8 times in the finals, with the Cubans winning the first 6.

Even after only earning the Silver Medal, the Cuba remains far and away the best performing team in the Baseball World Cup.  In total medal they lead the 2nd place US 30-15.  Also they are severely outpacing the world in Gold Medals, leading (again, with the US in 2nd) 25-4.  In 2007 when the US won their first of these consecutive titles, the Cuban team had won the previous 9 World Cup Gold Medals.

We’re almost done with this series of posts on scoring.  Now we need to discuss what do in situations where there are runners on base.

The first one that comes to mind is the stolen base.  When a runner steals a base, fill in the part of the diamond he just advanced to and write “SB” somewhere.  I prefer to do it right above the line to the base the runner stole, so I know later which base it was he swiped.

Of course, not every player that takes off on the pitch makes it safely.  If they are caught stealing a base, you need to write “CS” somewhere in the box.  I also draw half of the line to the base he was trying to steal and end it a perpendicular line (it looks something like this |— only it would be a diagonal), with the “CS” over top of it.  Just a preference thing, as long as you know the runner was caught stealing it doesn’t really matter.

Sometimes the pitcher doesn’t give the runner a chance either way and picks him off.  Record that one “PO”.

Of course, double and triple plays require there to be people on base.  Like a regular play, you just need to record all the players who touch the ball.  You can add “DP” or “TP” in front of it if you want (I do) so you know later that it was a double play and not the ball just bouncing off one player and another player picking it up and making a play.

Again, I draw the lines toward the base where the runner(s) were put out.

The fielder’s choice is pretty easy.  “FC” + the usual notation (i.e. FC 4-3).

Although there are three categories of bunts (bunting for a hit, sacrifice bunt, and squeeze), you only need to pay attention to the result.

If the both the batter and runner is out, it’s a double play and recorded as such. 

If the batter is out and the runner does not advance, it’s just a simple ground out or pop out. 

If the batter is out and the runner does advance, it’s recorded as a sacrifice bunt (SAC).  Make sure to note the runner’s advance.

If the batter is safe and the runner is out, it’s a fielder’s choice.

If everyone is safe, it’s treated as a hit.

Well, there’s only one post left.  Then you’ll be ready to confidently score any baseball game you come across.

I’ve dropped down to fourth place, and frankly I deserve it.  I’ve spent even less time with my fantasy team than with my blog.

My strategy for this last month of the season is to identify stat categories where I can pick up a place or two, and find players that can help with that.

For example, I could easily pick up a place or two in strikeouts, so I picked up two starting pitchers that could help put me over the top.

However, in most of the categories where I’m close to the person ahead of me, I’m not close to taking the position of teams ahead of me.  Therefore, all of these increases will only move me up, and will not have the added benefit of knocking another team down.

With luck, I think I can regain my 3rd place standing, but I don’t have much more hope than that.  We shall see though.

Ok, here’s a set of realistic goals along with what you can expect from me and Still America’s Pastime.

I will post two-three times a week.  This is doable, especially if I make an effort to do so, instead of just seeing if I’ll make it to the keyboard.

The continuation of the “I Call ‘Em as I See ‘Em” series, at least through the season.  I’ll finish up the DH parts, but not all this month.  It will go back to being the first Monday of the month (except this month, where it will be Thursday).

Monthly standing updates.  This will become weekly in August.

Random Game of the Week will no longer be a series, but I will occasionally post my analysis on a single game if I watch or listen to the whole thing.

 There you go.  Hopefully I’ll get on the ball, and give you a reason to keep coming back.

This year I’ve signed up to play in a Fantasy Baseball league.  I’m really excited and anxious to see how I’ll do.

My only experience with Fantasy baseball came four years ago, when I participated in a postseason league.  I didn’t really follow it too closely then, and finished middle of the road.  This year, I plan on following much more closely.

We had our live draft a couple of weeks ago, and it was much more intense than I thought it would be.  I had a good idea of who my first couple choices were in each position, and if everyone had shown up for the draft, I think it would have worked smoothly.  However, only 5 of the 10 owners showed up (2 showed up late), so the computer would auto-pick for the absentees.  This lead to situations where there were as many as 7 computer picks in about 5 seconds, and then I had 90 seconds to see who all was taken and what that did to my options.

As the weeks have past, only one other owner besides me has made any roster changes (plus, one guy dumped almost his entire team, but he hasn’t picked anybody up yet).  It makes me wonder if I just don’t have a life, if everyone else is really happy with their team, or if a few people forgot about their teams.

I noticed a couple of biases with my drafted team.  I knew that I preferred the National League to the American League and I am a huge Atlanta Braves fan.  I ended the team with only 7 of my 25 players being from the AL.  And I had 8 Braves on my team. 

I’m pretty sure that this is because of two things.  Although I tried to eliminate any emotional bias, I’m sure it got in there (I do have a Yankee or two, so emotions couldn’t have played a huge role).  I think the bigger thing was I know the NL players a lot better, so when in doubt I went with a known player rather than a straight statistical projection.

I also noticed that when I drafted players I didn’t always have the fantasy stats in mind.  There where one or two players who are great team guys, but being able to lay down a sacrifice bunt doesn’t help me in the fantasy league.

Still, it will be interesting to see how well I’ll do.  Maybe you can pick up some hints for your league…or at least avoid my mistakes.

After going 1 for 3 in February, let’s see if March improved.

25 Posts?  No.  In fact, I went down in March (5) from Feb. (6).  However, things are looking up again in April, as it’s only the 3rd, and this is post number three.

I Call ‘Em as I See ‘Em: Yes I posted, but it was late.  So this doesn’t really count.

Non-MLB Posts?  Nope, didn’t do it weekly.  I did have one on the WBC though.

0-3 this month.  Which makes me 1-6 during Spring Training.  Let’s hope that the start of the season improves my average.

The WBC ended 9 days ago with Japan defeating Korea in 10 innings.  After taking about a week to digest it, I’ve come up with my top five Final Thoughts on the ‘09 WBC.

1) Other countries play the game the right way, and do it well.

Japan and Korea were teams that won without the long ball.  They did the little things: moved runners, went first to third, etc.  They proved what everyone in the Major Leagues is preaching (but not worrying about following through on), that pitching and defense win championships.

2) There is no time what would work better than March, so people should stop complaining about it.

Yes, it means that it’s early in Spring Training for Major leaguers, but that’s better than in the middle of the season or after the World Series.  So that means the big leaguers who are selected to play need to start getting into game shape earlier.  It’s a price you’ll have to pay to play for your country.

3) The US is not the ultimate baseball country in the world.

After Korea taking the latest gold medal and Japan winning the Classic in ‘06 and ‘09, it’s pretty obvious that we aren’t the #1 baseball country in the world anymore.  This is something we need to decide whether we should work on changing or not.

4) If the US wants to win the World Baseball Classic, we have to start believing that it matters.

I know the players who played believed it mattered.  And the coaching staff knew it mattered.  But what about the MLB owners?  Or the country?  It was embarrassing that Team USA had less fan support at the games played in the United States than the teams from Japan, Korea, Cuba, etc.

 5) The World Baseball Classic does matter!

This goes with part 4.  I failed at covering the World Baseball Classic.  Why does it matter?  First, the game of baseball was invented here.  It should be a matter of pride to be among the world’s best, if not actually the world’s best.  Second, it will help the game grow internationally.  This is especially important as it seems that more and more American kids pick football over baseball (or worse, don’t pick any sport at all and just sit around all day).  Finally, it showcases talent from around the world.

Hopefully, as the WBC grows, Americans will realize just how important and wonderful it is. 

I’m totally shocked I haven’t said anything about the World Baseball Classic yet!

Ok, not totally.  I mean, I haven’t posted for awhile, and I’ve only had time to watch a few of the games.  Still, to have ignored talking about it for so long is unforgivable in my opinion.

The big news right now is that Team USA has advanced to the semi-final round.  Why is that such big news?  Because last time (’06) the US was bounced in the second round, after believing they would walk right over everyone to win.

This year Team USA realized that in this World Baseball Classic they would be up against world class competition.  Glad it only took us 3 years to figure that out.

Well, although the match-ups haven’t been fully set yet, the four teams heading to the semi-finals are Venesualla, USA, Japan, and Korea.  Japan and Korea are playing each other tonight to determine their seeds in the semi-finals.

Big surprises in the WBC?  There were two in my book.  First is that the team from The Netherlands beat the tournament favorite Dominican Republic in the first round.  TWICE!  That sent the DR home faster than anyone predicted.  The other is that Cuba, which has won like 33 of the 40 international tournaments its been in (maybe it was just appeared 33 of 40 times in the finals, its still good) heading home after the second round.

I’ll keep you posted on how the tournament is progressing.