Growth?

For those of you that are new here, the genesis of this blog--about three years ago to the day, in fact--was largely inspired by Matt's and my infatuation with the long-extinct Fire Joe Morgan. Of course, with the hindsight of knowing that FJM's main contributor, Ken Tremendous (a.k.a. "Michael Schur"), is the man primarily responsible for Parks and Recreation, I have to wonder where my head was at. That said, FJM's influence over our blog in these three years--particularly my posts--has been tremendous (, Ken).

One of FJM's most recent posts at the time of our inception was this--a scathing deconstruction of a Baseball Tonight debate on run support. The notion being challenged was that a pitcher has some influence over the number of runs his team scores when he's on the mound--a sentiment that the BBTN panelists that night unanimously shared, though on highly disparate terms. One of those panelists was Steve Phillips who said:

There's a rhythm and a flow that happens to a team when things are going well. When you're scoring runs, when you're playing well -- pitchers who work too quickly sometimes get their hitters out of a flow; they work too slowly, they get out of the flow. And when you have a star on the mound, sometimes everybody stands around and watches. 

The reason I bring all of this up is that Phillips, during tonight's Mets-Braves game, reiterated points B ("work too slowly") and C ("star on the mound"), attempting to explain Johan Santana's poor run support since joining the Mets. 

Back in April 2006, my immediate instinct was to summarily reject the notion based on the premises that the FJM authors a) were funny, b) seemed to know what they were talking about, c) supported my own assumptions on the run support issue, d) supported my assumption that Steve Phillips is a goof, and e) generally agreed with me about everything. 

Three years later, though, I'm far more sympathetic to seemingly idiotic notions. In fact, when I finish writing this post, I plan to take up the issue with the number crunchers at FanGraphs to see if they can offer any further insight, but as I see it, the argument proposes the following hypotheses, each with tangible implications that could plausibly prove it true:

1) Pitchers hurt their run support by working too quickly.

Possible effect: His teammates mimic his haste at the plate, resulting in careless hacks early in the count.

2) Pitchers hurt their run support by working too slowly.

Possible effect: His teammates grow wary from the length of the game, resulting in careless hacks early in the count.

3) Pitchers hurt their run support by being too good.

Possible effect: His teammates grow complacent, diminishing their focus at the plate. 

4) Pitchers hurt their run support by sucking.

Possible effect: His teammates feel increased performance pressure at the plate, resulting in poor swing/take decisions.

Another thought to consider: Bad pitchers are more likely to create early deficits for his team. Early deficits encourage the oposing pitcher to pitch to contact, rather than inducing swings and misses. Pitching to contact is more likely to result in runs. Ergo, bad pitcher gets more run support than good pitcher.

I'm not necessarily giving Phillips the benefit of the doubt on all this, but I do think there's enough plausibility in these hypotheses that the ideas are worth considering. I can't imagine any effect would be remarkably pronounced, and I also suspect that the contradictory nature of each effect would cause their results--if any--to cancel out. But I could just as easily see one of these hypotheses bearing out, at least to some small extent.

I'll let you all know when FanGraphs gets back to me. (Or not.)

Read more...

The End Of An Era

All kidding aside, I was deeply saddened to learn today that the boys from Fire Joe Morgan are hanging it up. Anyone who knows Vinnie and I are fully aware that this lame site started only because of our admiration for KT, Dak and Junior and we owe them everything we have (nothing). Though it's going to make baseball season a lot less fun, all of us at Yellow Chair Sports wish the guys at FJM the best of luck with their future projects. Man, this sucks.

Read more...

I call shennanigans

Checking out Fire Joe Morgan today, I found out about this--a bracket-style polling competition to determine the "Sports Blog of the Year."

Remarkably, we were overlooked by the people at Busted Coverage. So as any dignified person would do when passed over in a silly popularity contest, I'm here to bitch and moan and accuse them of arbitrary bias.

Are we not edgy enough? Or Jewish enough? Too racially insensitive? Is it beacause we're not a bunch of mysoginist drunks who load up our site with pictures of scantily clad women to attract visitors? Evidently, you need "readers" to get recognized by other people.

Well, Busted Coverage--Fuck. You. And to all our readers out there, if you're a true fan of YCS, you will never, ever go to Busted Coverage. And if you do, I have a special super-secret way of tracking the internet activity of every IP address that's ever visited here, and if I find you've been reading that blog, I will block you from this site forever and mail you a letter bomb. So don't do it.

Read more...

Fourteen and OH! You suck!

(Just had--haaaad--to recycle that picture.)

Having first seen this link at Fire Joe Morgan, I guess it put the seed in my brain to FJM-ally deconstruct the quotes of the men quoted in this story.

Donny "Football," aka Coach Shula:

"The Spygate thing has diminished what they've accomplished."

It's diminished them so much that in the games since being caught--with the exception of this last one where they beat the other bestest team in football, who are also the reigning champs, in their home stadium--they've basically won every other game 38-16ish.

No wait! That's just in my fantasy brain-land! In reality, as every subsequent week, as well as the Pats tragic 1-8 record, have proven, they really fucking needed those cameras.

"You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. They've got it."

By my count, they have that attached to precisely one accomplishment: beating the Jets. The New York motherfucking Jets, who have since been beaten twice by William and Mary and frice (four times) by Ray's.

Ok, ok. "The Pats were also doing this when they won their championships!" But weren't a lot of their opponents putting their cheating hats on as well? Also, weren't a lot of opponents entirely hopeless in many of those games, fancy Technicolor (TM) images aside?

"I guess you got the same thing as putting an asterisk by Barry Bonds' home run record."

You're right, Mr. Shula. It is just as infantile. Because just as steroid use is rampant and generally expected in baseball today, I would venture to say that spy-like techniques--whether by cameras, moles, suicide pills, or whathaveyou--are very commonplace in today's maniacally competetive NFL.

Now, from former Dolphins tight end Jim Mandich:

"You guys put forth the myth that we are pathetic losers down here clicking champagne glasses and clinging desperately to a record set 35 years ago."

This is not a myth. Whether or not the champagne thing is an urban legend, it is well-documented, by cameras and audio and such, that members of the '72 Dolphins showed up for the 1985 Bears-Dolphins Monday night game in an attempt to exert their air of supremacy on a team nearing a 16-0 record.

"The Patriots have assembled a powerhouse of a team. They are a classy bunch of guys and play ball the right way. If they want to join the unbeaten club, come on aboard."

I believe you are probably an exception compared to your ex-mates, Mr. Mandrich, and are therefore very cool. I think most of the NFL-watching public born after things like trying to destroy an opponent's knees at every imaginable opportunity were made illegal are with you.

I'm not saying that Shula only discredits the Pats' accomplishments out of spite, nor an I saying his former players do. But it's a very strong possibility.

To them I say: Game's changed, fellas. Bigger players. Faster players. Cameras galore! The forward pass no longer considered a calculated risk!

And *gasp* most of us like it!

And no, we are not going to discount what you did 35 years ago because you were clearly awesome to the nth degree during your time. Just as Hank Aaron was. Just as Babe Ruth was. Just as Frank "Home Run" Baker was.

But we just wanna see a 16-0 team, okay? Is that such a horrible thing?

Read more...