Wrapping Up Today

Starting 9 (6/22/09)

 

1. A random group of articles to close out the day. First is RealClearSports with the top 10 moments in sports blog history. It seems a little early for this considering sports blogs are relatively new, but it's still a fun list.

2. There is a classic battle brewing between the people who like statistics and the people who don't. Harold Reynolds does not and Joe Posnanski tells him why he's an idiot (putting it lightly). Have to agree with JoePo here.

3. According to PECOTA, the Yankees have a 26% chance of winning the AL East, a 41% chance of winning the division, and a 67% chance of making the playoffs. So before we, as Yankees fans all panic, let's...well...not panic.

4. I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with Sweeny Murti and Peter Abraham, both of whom I like very much as baseball writers: you've proven nothing to make me think that Jorge Posada is a good pitcher's catcher. Just because he's done well in small sample sizes or caught a long time and a lot of games does not make him a great catcher. He has a great bat. He was never great at calling games. Had a good arm for a few years. But never was good at calling games. All the Yankees best pitchers didn't like pitching to him and the numbers back that up. I love Jorgie, but this is not one place where he excels.

5. So Jon Heyman pointed out that the Yankees front office was the one who instigated the A-Rod rest. My question is why did it take someone up there to do it? Heyman defends Girardi but isn't it the player's responsibility not to hurt the team and the manager's responsibility to do what's best for the team? I can't understand how he was allowed to play so long while any spectator could see he was lost and dead tired out there.

6. I could never figure out how Moneyball was going to be a movie and neither could Columbia it seems (or was it Sony?) as they dropped the project. To tell you the truth, I didn't love the book either. I know, I'm weird.

7. ESPN reports Donald Fehr is dropping out as head of the player's union. I may never forgive him for ruining the 1994 season, though I understand why he did it. My goal coming into senior year of high school was to go to Cornell's Industrial and Labor Relations school and then maybe become the head of the player's union or something of that ilk. I ended up going to Brandeis and now work in Compliance. Go figure. Here's a USA Today piece from a few years ago on the anonymous guy (Michael Weiner) who will step into Fehr's role.

8. From this day in baseball history via Baseball-Reference: 1996 - In Cleveland, Ruben Sierra homers from both sides of the plate as the Yankees beat the Indians, 11 - 9. One of Sierra's home runs comes in the 9-run 6th inning. Albert Belle, back from a 2-game suspension, is 3-for-5 with a homer, and Eddie Murray adds his 488th home run for the Tribe. The game takes 4:10.

9. Two non-sports articles: The Wall Street Journal on "Too Big to Fail, or Succeed" (a good read passing around my office) and TIME on one woman's death in Iran which shows the role YouTube may play in public opinion (as well as Twitter and Facebook which will probably lead "Neda" to join the ranks of the unknown man captured in the famous Tiananmen Square protest picture of 1989).