As a dedicated Carlos Marmol watcher, I’ve been biting my tongue about something. But I can’t any more. Something’s wrong. Take a look at the speed of every fastball Marmol has thrown since 2007 (based on my own pitch classifications). He’s had dips, but nothing like this. This doesn’t even include last night, and he […]

Nationals 10, Phillies 2: Danny Espinsosa had two homers as the Nats teed off on Cliff Lee. The Cliff Lee with the losing record and and ERA creeping up near 4.00.  Hmmm. Oh, and there was a brief injury delay involving Carlos Ruiz in the bottom of the 8th. After the game Charlie Manuel described […]

Jose Bautista homered “only” once over Memorial Day weekend, but he still has 20 blasts in 55 team games through Tuesday, putting him on pace for 59 long balls on the year. That puts his projection right on the edge of two of the categories we asked you to choose from when speculating how many […]

One of the odd things about baseball players’ careers is that most players have their best years in their twenties, but career totals are mostly determined by what you do in your thirties. . . . [Jim] Rice’s peak value can be fairly accurately assessed, and it ranks right up there. Is career value is […]

Our good friends at Gelf Magazine are hosting another baseball-oriented function this Thursday. It’s called Varsity Letters, and this week’s guests include three authors with new baseball books out, including Alan Hirsch of the latest “anti-sabermetrics” book The Beauty of Short Hops: How Chance and Circumstance Confound the Moneyball Approach to Baseball. Should be interesting. […]

Following Buster Posey’s horrific injury last week, the Giants recalled Brandon Belt from the Pacific Coast League. Should he be on the major league roster and how much playing time should he get? Injuries helped Belt win a roster spot out of spring training. He saw major league action at the beginning of the season […]

One of our readers recently sent in this remembrance: In May 1946 I was a 12-year-old growing up in Brooklyn and of course a diehard Brooklyn Dodgers Fan. On May 30th, Memorial Day, my Uncle took me to Ebbets field to see a double header against the Boston Braves. In the top of the 2nd […]

Dodgers 8, Marlins 0: Clayton Kershaw was probably happy to have all of that offense behind him, but he sure as hell didn’t need it (CG SHO 2 H, 10K). Rays 7, Indians 0: Actually, the same can be said for Jeremy Hellickson (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 6K). Evan Longoria was 2 for […]

Welcome to the May 22-28 edition of Top Games of the Week. The greatest contests of the past seven days are ranked as described in this article: date game stars 05-25 Reds @ Phillies *** box score 05-26 Royals @ Orioles *** box score 05-28 White Sox @ Blue Jays *** box score 05-24 Cardinals […]

Heading into the Memorial Day weekend, Jose Bautista has 19 home runs. This is, as everyone knows, on top of the 54 blasts he hit last season, which itself followed a 10-homer outburst in September 2009. (And six of those were in his final eight games.) To say Bautista has been hot the last year […]