Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

[Gerontophile]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

Well, they finally overturned that shitty rule where the winner of the All-Star game would get home field advantage.

YAY sense. Back to best record.

[Southport Zeb]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

It's a new thing for it to be on best record - before they gave home advantage to the All Star winners, the two leagues alternated each year.

[Hot Pepsi]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

ursus arctos wrote: Painfully true
BTW, while I will likely be writing something about Brooklyn baseball in the 19th century, I will not be doing the John Montgomery Ward book, as a very good one has already been written by a New Yorker staff writer

I got a copy in good condition. It's a lot longer than I expected. I just perused the stuff about when the author visited here - in the late 90s, so a fair bit has changed - and has some very interesting observations. He seems like kind of an odd guy, but I can't find anything else out about him other than that he lives in Montana or did live in Montana for a while and teaches some writing seminars. I was going to offer him a place to stay if he ever comes through here again.

[ursus arctos]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

Somewhat outdated interview with him

He is a good friend of Willian Finnegan, the New Yorker staff writer whose surfing memoir was a big thing early this year.

[Hot Pepsi]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

Thanks for that. I didn't turn up that interview when I looked.

[Gerontophile]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

Southport Zeb wrote: It's a new thing for it to be on best record - before they gave home advantage to the All Star winners, the two leagues alternated each year.

Right. I should have remembered with the Yankees being in it for 4 years in a row.

[danielmak]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

ursus arctos wrote: Somewhat outdated interview with him

He is a good friend of Willian Finnegan, the New Yorker staff writer whose surfing memoir was a big thing early this year.

This has nothing to do with baseball but if anyone has access to back issues of the New Yorker, I really recommend Finnegan's piece about skinheads (racist and non-racist) in Southern California. It's a really well-written piece:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/12/01/the-unwanted

In baseball news, the all-star game will no longer be used to decide home field advantage in the WS.

[ursus arctos]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

This looks to be the full text of that piece.

And there is a baseball angle to it. Lancaster is the home of the California League JetHawks, who play in the strangest climatological conditions in Organized Baseball

This is the Lancaster JetHawks' home park, after all, where balls routinely leave the park despite some of the deepest fences in baseball. The winds rolling in off the desert here at Clear Channel Stadium routinely reach 40 miles per hour blowing out to right field and can add more than 30 feet to the distance a fly ball travels.

The Lancaster JetHawks are the beneficiaries—or in the case of pitchers, the victims—of the winds. The club has averaged 170 home runs over the last five years, a number the California League's other nine teams, combined, have reached only once during that time. Its pitchers last year allowed 101 runs more than any other team and about 200 more than the league average.

One year, the team ran out of batting-practice balls in June because so many hits were carried over the fence.

The team's marketers have embraced the elements. For a number of years the JetHawks set ticket prices at 10 cents for every mile per hour the wind blew on a given day. The club sometimes holds tumbleweed races between innings.

[danielmak]

Dudes Dig the Low ERA (MLB 2016)

I'm a few days behind but that is the full text of the piece. Thanks for sharing it, UA.

From a Chiagocentric perspective on the Winter Meetings, the White Sox have been doing big business. They acquired (according to MLB's scouting services) the #1 prospect overall and the #1 pitching prospect (#3 overall) in the past two days. Trading Sale was huge but trading Eaton seemed go garner a lot more than one would expect.

Cubs have acquired Wade Davis from the Royals for Solaire. That was a good trade for the Cubs. But I have no idea what the Royals are doing. I get that they are 1 year away from 3-4 major free agents that they may or may not be able to afford. But this is a team that is one-year removed from winning the WS (after appearing two years in a row). They were riddled with injuries last season. They have made piss poor choices about their starting pitching and got by with a superior bullpen but I still think a healthy Royals is a contending team for the AL title. I know that I picked them to dip last season, which was based more on a team being tired and weak starting pitching finally showing itself rather than injuries, but I expect them to bounce back if the players aren't sold off. If I was a Royals fan, I'd be pissed. You wait decades for something exciting, get 2 good seasons, and then that's that? I'd especially be troubled when MLB has moved to a new model: winners going for it, rebuilders who have no plan to win, and some teams caught in the middle (Angels, Marlins, Yankees?). The Royals need to go for it and then rebuild after the season ends and most of the guys leave. If nothing else, wait until July to see what happens or offer a qualifying offer and get a draft pick. It's stupid to blow this up. And I say all of that as someone who has nothing invested in them winning.

On the Dodgers front, I can't believe they couldn't offer more to the White Sox for Sale than what the Red Sox offered. Hell, offer Peterson, Alex Guerroro (for free), and a top prospect. You're back to Kershaw and Grenke type #1 and #2 but at a good price for three seasons.