Wednesday, September 08, 2004 |
Pickoff Moves
An Apology
... for the delay in getting this post up. Blogger has been increasingly cranky of late, a fact I blame on their lame Java internals. I don't know what it is, but it seems like behind every slow, unreliable site is a Java implementation. Thanks, despite such annoyances, to everyone who showed up anyway and pushed the meter on the right past 40,000 site visits; I'm honored that folks keep coming back.Angels 5, Blue Jays 2
Figgins? Anderson? What do they say about gift horses?Now that Boston creamed the A's 7-1, we're only a game and a half back. Probably won't catch 'em, but at least we'll give 'em a good scare.
Weber Released
Sayonara, Ben. Believe it or not, there's at least one Angels fan who knows how big a hole you left behind. You will be missed. Good luck.A Win's A Win, Jayson
Jayson Stark questions the Yankees desire to win at all costs:Does anybody out there really believe the Yankees are so desperate to hold onto their lead over the rampaging Red Sox that they tried to squeeze a forfeit out of a team caught in a hurricane?Yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do, especially after Brown decided to surrender the rest of his season. Besides, isn't it one of the points Yankees fans like to raise that their team will do anything to win?
Update: Derek Zumsteg in Baseball Prospectus winges some about the Yanks getting the short end of the stick on this call, if you can believe that, with the following bit of literalism:
The rule is entirely clear on this. 4.15: "A game may be forfeited to the opposing team when a team (a) Fails to appear upon the field, or being upon the field, refuses to start play within five minutes after the umpire has called 'Play' at the appointed hour for beginning the game, unless such delayed appearance is, in the umpire's judgment, unavoidable."He then goes on to complain about Selig's interference with all of this, and how he shouldn't -- and doesn't -- have the power to suspend a game, but in fact he's got remarkably unrestrained power within baseball. (Unfortunately, thanks to the untimely death of Doug Pappas, I can't find a copy of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement to save my life; therein it details everything he can do, which is pretty much anything.) And all this forgets one convenient fact: nobody complained when the Yankees and Mets couldn't honor their obligations to play their scheduled home games on September 11, 2001 and shortly thereafter. It's called having compassion, Derek.The Devil Rays didn't appear on the field at all. They forfeit. ... The forfeit rule is there specifically to encourage teams like the Devil Rays to show up on time not only when it's easy to do so, but when it's hard.
Update 5:07 PM: Richard in the comments notes that the Rays were informed to leave before Frances hit. That may be so, but as Mike's Baseball Rants points out, the Elias Sports Bureau shows that the last forfeit due to a no-show was in 1918. As with the rule about impeding the basepaths, it's only selectively enforced, else The Play is nothing, the run scores, and we have no highlight reel, not to mention a possible Cleveland win.
Hey, Work Your Own Side Of The Street
Whaddya know -- two stories about what a good deal Jeffy has been for the Blue. Now, where have I heard that before?(Snarky comments about me stealing most of my material are, of course, right on target.)
Free Agent Supermarket
From Peter Gammons, this handy list of free agents in 2005. Incidentally, he left Nomo off the list of players whose values have been reduced due to injury.
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