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Q-o-t-D 5/22/13 |
| Posted by TheBEEZER 10 Hours Ago
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Well, so far we have done the best All-time HR hitter...Pitcher...SS...and Catcher....
So today, we'll discuss who is the best all-time MLB...Read More
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Hello Gabbers, the one armed, one fingered bandit is back after taking a couple of weeks to himself to regain some strength in his shoulder, so please pardon the typos, this one fingered typing sucks! I do have to admit one thing, I have not missed an inning of the playoffs, so here is my take..........
 Taking nothing away from DVT's Cardinals or Gerry's Giants, but this World Series is setting up perfectly in the Tigers favor. Both of their teams will not have their aces until at least game 4, while the Tigers who will probably be a flat in the first game.
I am not saying they will sweep or even win the series, I just like their chances considering how the pitching matchups line up. Well this is it for now, gotta take a rest and get ready for game 7. Thanks for reading my post, See you soon....
GO TIGERS!!!!
i
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“It’s déjà vu all over again.”
-Yogi Berra
Correct me if I am wrong, but I feel like we have been here before. Maybe it was in another time, another life. Maybe then I was had some significant riches or hell, maybe I was playing in the game itself, but something really feels familiar hear, like it has happened before.
Oh wait, that’s because it has happened before. Three time to be exact.
Of course, I’m talking about the fact that the 2012 World Series is going retro, all the way back to 2006 unless the San Francisco Giants find a way to mount a tremendous comeback.
The Detroit Tigers have already punched their tickets, thanks to a 4-game sweep of the punch less New York Yankees, who folded along with Derek Jeter’s ankle. Detroit will represent the American League and will likely play the St. Louis Cardinals, who lead the Giants in the National League Championship Series 3-1. And that is where the more of the same comes back again.
This will mark the 12th World Series appearance for the Tigers, with Detroit winning 4 titles. The Cardinals meanwhile have made the series a whopping 18 times and won 11 titles, both of which are second to only the New York Yankee machine.
But wait, it gets better.
The Cardinals and Tigers have faced off in the World Series 3 times, in 1934, 1968, and 2006. St. Louis has won 2 of the 3 meetings, including the last match-up in 2006.
Now, I do not want to take anything away from the Tigers or the Cardinals here. Despite their early season struggles, the Tigers put together a great run at the end to win the A.L. Central and carried it over into the postseason. They were favored from the beginning of the year, with the likes of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Justin Verlander, Doug Fister (who doesn’t love saying that name), and Max Scherzer. This team should be here.
As for the Cardinals, you cannot fault them either. This is a team that has overcome losing the best player in baseball, Albert Pujols, their second-best hitter to injury in Lance Berkman, and was without their ace Chris Carpenter for everything but the final few weeks of the season. The National League slept on them and the Cardinals made them pay, behind Yadier Molina, Allen Craig, David Freese, Carlos Beltran, Adam Wainright, and Matt Holliday. Now, they are dispatching the Giants like brushing away an annoying fly and we’ll have another Tigers and Cardinals World Series.
Personally, I love the match-up because they are two old-school teams that will represent a great series. However, I cannot help but be a bit disappointed. This was supposed to be the year an upstart made some noise. This was the year the Baltimore Orioles were going to take the world by storm. This was the year that the Washington Nationals were not supposed to handicap themselves by benching Stephen Strasburg and they were meant to have a say in this. The Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics made huge strides and were not meant to go down in a flaming blaze of glory in the first round.
I know the pundits love to point out that small market teams have no place in the World Series. They are not going to draw strong television audiences and are henceforth not worth the time on display. My argument for that is that if the small market squads build up a history of success, like the Texas Rangers have, they tend to reverse the course of popularity. The Oakland A’s of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s were a tremendously popular team because of sustained success.
Baseball is a great game, but it always has a feeling of been there, done that. I just wish that the World Series could eventually catch up with the winds of change.
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20 wins used to mean a lot in this business. It was almost a single-handed guarantee that the Cy Young was yours for the taking. You lead the league in wins, you take home the hardware. Simple as that.
Then Zack Greinke happened, taking the award home in with a measily 16 wins in 2009 and all hell broke loose. The sabermetricians came out with their picket and their torches and demanded that the best pitcher in the game be given the award, regardless of his team's success, hence dictating his win total. As if to drive it home, they gave Tim Lincecum his second award in 2009 as well, despite having just 15 wins. Then they took their opinion to the polls, granting Felix Hernandez the Cy Young in 2010 with just 13 wins to his name.
The world had gone all topsy-turvy.
So how does this new era in award voting affect the 2012 Cy Young vote? Well, we have two 20-game winners in Jered Weaver and David Price, both of whom have a rightful claim to the award
David Price
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Year
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Tm
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W
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L
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ERA
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G
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GS
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CG
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SHO
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SV
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IP
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H
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R
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ER
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HR
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BB
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SO
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ERA+
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WHIP
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SO/9
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SO/BB
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2012
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TBR
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20
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5
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2.56
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31
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31
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2
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1
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0
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211.0
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173
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63
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60
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16
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59
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205
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149
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1.100
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8.7
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3.47
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Jered Weaver
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Year
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Tm
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W
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L
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ERA
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G
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GS
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CG
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SHO
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IP
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H
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R
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ER
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HR
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BB
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SO
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ERA+
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WHIP
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SO/9
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SO/BB
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|
2012
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LAA
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20
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4
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2.73
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29
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29
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3
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2
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187.2
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145
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61
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57
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20
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43
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141
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138
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1.002
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6.8
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3.28
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In terms of straight statistics, both men represent themselves as a solid candidate. They share the league-lead in victories with 20. However, while Weaver has the league-lead in WHIP and a no-hitter under his belt in 2012, Price has the lower ERA, more starts, more innings pitched, a better ERA+, and a huge advantage in strke-outs.
So the 2012 American League Cy Young award should go to David Price correct?
But wait a second, the aforementioned sabermetricians come over the hill, banging their WAR drums and stumping for a third candidate; Justin Verlander.
The fact that Verlander has not gotten more publicity is ludicrous. After all, this is the man that not only won the Cy Young in 2011, but also took home the league MVP trophy as well. That said, it can be tough to follow that kind of performance up, but Verlander has done admirably in 2012.
Justin Verlander
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Year
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Tm
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W
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L
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ERA
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G
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GS
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CG
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SHO
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IP
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H
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R
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ER
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HR
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BB
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SO
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ERA+
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SO/9
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SO/BB
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Awards
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2012
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DET
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17
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8
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2.64
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33
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33
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6
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1
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238.1
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192
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81
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70
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19
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60
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239
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158
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9.0
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3.98
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AS
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So Verlander asserts himself with some other solid stats. His ERA sits comfortably between those of Price and Weaver. He's also got a solid advantage in complete games, inning pitched, strike-outs, and ERA+. But since we were talking about sabermetrics and WAR (wins above replacement) in particular, we can compare them in that category. And because no one can truly agree on how to calculate WAR, we'll use both Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs for this analysis.
Baseball-Reference
Price - 6.5
Weaver - 3.9
Verlander - 7.6
FanGraphs
Price - 5.1
Weaver - 3.0
Verlander - 6.8
So, in retrospect, both sites agree on two points. First, while still a solid pitcher, Weaver is simply pedestrian in comparison to either Price or Verlander. Second, Verlander is significantly higher valued pitcher to have, despite the lower win total.
And if the sabermetricians are right, then the Cy Young award for 2012 stays puts.
Justin Verlander is your winner.
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In a three-legged race, the secret to victory is unison. All three components must work simultaneously in order for victory to be had. Otherwise, the racer(s) fall flat on their face. You also need to rely on your opponents to suffer a misstep or two.
A batting Triple Crown is not much different. For a hitter to achieve the glory of leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, the stars have to align just right. The hitter cannot sacrifice power for average or vice-versa. The hitter must also be given ample opportunities to bat with runners on base ahead of him and do more than play situational baseball.
Every at-bat counts for something. It is either a cashed in chip or a wasted opportunity.
For Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, this piece of baseball immortality is well within grasp. With two of the legs already in his command (batting average - .333, and RBI – 130), and the trailing Josh Hamilton of the Rangers by just 1 home run, Cabrera knows he cannot afford to slip up one bit. Mike Trout is fast on his heels in the batting race and his Detroit Tigers, who trail in the AL Central by 2 games and in the Wild Card by 5 games, will need his bat to stay hot throughout the final two weeks.
Of course, there should be no Triple Crown conversation without mentioning the man who was the last to perform the feat; Carl Yazstremski.
Now, talking about Yaz may just be my way of grasping at any positive way I can find to talk about the Red Sox, but it needs to be noted just how tough of a task it was for him.
Like Cabrera, Yaz found himself not only carrying the weight of the Triple Crown race on his shoulders, but also that of a division race. Then again, in 1967 Yaz and the Red Sox were not fighting for one of three division titles or one of two Wild Card slots. Rather, they were competing against the entire American League for the sole postseason spot from the AL, but I digress.
Also like Cabrera, Yaz had to fight off some solid competition to claim the three legs of the Triple Crown. Yazstremski hit a robust .417 in September to win the batting title, finishing at .326 with Frank Robinson, who won the Triple Crown in 1966, finishing with a .311 mark.
On the home run side, Yaz popped 9 home runs out during the final month of the season to finish with 44 home runs. However, Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew hit 10 of his own in the month of September, tying Yaz on the second to last day of the year. For the season, Carl’s consistent home run stroke was what allowed him to grab his share of the title. Outside of April, when he hit just 2 home runs out of the gate, Yaz hit 8 in each May, June, and July, and then hit 9 each in August and September. Killebrew’s 2 home runs in August likely cost him the chance to steal the title from Yazstremski.
For the final leg, Yaz again had to withstand Killebrew to win the RBI title. Yazstremski would finish with 121, buoyed by driving home 20 or more runs from May until September, including 10 in his last 5 games of the season. Again, the slump in August hurt Killebrew, who finished with a solid 113 RBI’s of his own.
It is of greater interest to see the names that Yazstremski had to best for his crown. The aforementioned Robinson and Killebrew were just the tip of the iceberg. Other greats like Al Kaline, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, and Frank Howard also line the American League leader boards in 1967.
Of course, the final note of interest is the fact that Yazstremski was named Most Valuable Player at the end of the 1967 season. However, the Triple Crown was not enough to garner him a unanimous selection. Someone felt it necessary to give Cesar Tovar of the Twins a single MVP vote. Tovar of course put up the phenomenal batting line of .267 with 6 home runs and 47 RBI for a .691 OPS, which was obviously comparable to Yaz’s mark of 1.040.
But it is the fact that Yaz won the MVP as a reward for the Triple Crown that is truly important in this discussion. Will fate be as kind to Miguel Cabrera?
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